[V-47]I append a few general quotations concerning the Nunnery: The court façades 'ornamented from one end to the other with the richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal; presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now to be seen among its ruins.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 300. 'All these façades were painted; the traces of the colour are still visible, and the reader may imagine what the effect must have been when all this building was entire, and according to its supposed design, in its now desolate doorways stood noble Maya maidens, like the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish and keep alive the sacred fire burning in the temples.'Id., p. 307. The bottoms of the caissons of the diamond lattice-work are painted red. The paint is believed to be a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion, probably vegetable colors.Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 200-1; Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-4, describes a building supposed to be the Nunnery on account of the serpent ornament, which, however, is stated to be on the exterior front of the building. Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 177, describes the court and surrounding edifices, stating that the serpent surrounds all four sides. 'Vn gran patio con muchos aposentos separados en forma de claustro donde viuian estas doncellas. Es fabrica digna de admiracion, porque lo exterior de las paredes es todo de piedra labrada, donde estàn sacadas de medio relieue figuras de hombres armados, diuersidad de animales, pajaros, y otras cosas.' 'Todos los quatro lienços de aquel gran patio (que se puede llamar plaça) los ciñe vna culebra labrada en la misma piedra de las paredes, que termina la cola por debaxo de la cabeça, y tiene toda ella en circuito quatrocientos pies.' Jones,Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 93, accounts for the superiority of the sculpture on the court façades by supposing that it was executed at a later date; its protection from the weather would also tend to its better preservation.[V-48]Although Zavala says, speaking of the Uxmal ruins in general: 'Celles qui forment l'arête à partir de laquelle les plans des murs convergent pour déterminer la voûte prismatique dont j'ai déjà parlé, sont taillées en forme de coude dont l'angle est obtus.'Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. 'In the rear of, and within a few feet of the eastern range, are the remains of a similar range, which is now almost in total ruins. There appear to have been connecting walls, or walks, from this range to the Pyramid near by, as I judged from the rubbish and stones that can be traced from one to the other.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. Cuts fromStephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 311, 430; one of them reproduced inBaldwin's Anc. Amer.[V-49]So say Stephens' text and plan, Viollet-le-Duc, and Charnay's plan; but Stephens' views, except that inCent. Amer., Charnay's photographs, and Waldeck's plan and drawings, do not indicate an oval form. I am inclined to believe that the corners are simply rounded somewhat more than in the other Uxmal structures, and that the oval form indicated in the plan is not correct.[V-50]M. Viollet-le-Duc says it is 'entièrement composé d'un blocage de maçonnerie revêtu de gros moellons parementés,' inCharnay,Ruines Amér., p. 70.[V-51]Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 193. 'La subida principal está á la parte del oriente y se practica por medio de una grada, que á la altura referida, guarda, segun mi cálculo, el muy escaso declive de treinta pies á lo mas: esta circunstancia, como se deja entender, la hace en extremo pendiente y peligrosa. Si no me engaño, la grada á que me refiero, tiene de 95 á 100 escaloncitos de piedra labrada, pero tan angostos, que apénas pueden recibir la mitad del pié: la cubren muchos troncos de árboles, espinos, y, lo que es peor, una multitud de yerba, resbaladiza.' The author, however, climbed the stairway barefooted.L. G., inRegistro de Yuc., tom. i., p. 278. 'Les côtés de la pyramide sont tellement lisses qu'on ne peut y monter même à l'aide des arbres et des broussailles qui poussent dans les interstices des pierres.'Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 95. The eastern slope 70°, and the western 80°.Heller,Reisen, p. 256. Stairway has 180 steps, each 12 to 15 centimetres wide and high.Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33. 100 steps, each 5 inches wide.Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 71. 100 steps, each 6 inches wide.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 163. About 130 steps, 8 or 9 inches high.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 421.[V-52]'Une espèce de petite chapelle en contre-bas tournée à l'ouest; ce petit morceau est fouillé comme un bijou; une inscription parait avoir été gravée, formant ceinture au-dessus de la porte.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 368. 'Loaded with ornaments more rich, elaborate, and carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 313.[V-53]In the matter of dimensions, the Casa del Adivino presents the same variations as the other structures—Stephens,Yucatan, being the authority followed. Waldeck makes the platform 45 by 91 feet 8 inches, and the building 81 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 8 inches. Zavala calls the building 8 metres square. According to Norman the pyramid measures 500 feet at the base, and is 100 feet high, the platform being 21 by 72 feet, and the building 12 by 60, and 20 feet high. Charnay pronounces the pyramid 75 to 80 feet high. Stephens,Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 421-2, gives the dimensions as follows: Pyramid, 120 by 240 feet at base; platform, 4½ feet wide outside the building; building, 68 feet long; rooms, 9 feet wide, 18, 18, and 34 feet long. Friederichsthal's dimensions: Pyramid, 120 by 192 feet and 25½ feet high; platform, 23⅓ by 89 feet; building, 12 by 73 feet, and 19¼ feet high.Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 307. Heller's dimensions: Pyramid, 135 by 225 feet, and 105 feet high; platform, 20 by 70 feet; building, 12 by 60 feet, and 20 feet high.[V-54]'Il est à remarquer que le pénis des statues était en érection, et que toutes ces figures étaient plus particulièrement mutilées dans cette partie du corps.'Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 95-6. Plate xi. shows the statue and accompanying portion of the wall. 'The emblems of life and death appear on the wall in close juxtaposition, confirming the belief in the existence of that worship practiced by the Egyptians, and all other eastern nations, and before referred to as prevalent among the people of Uxmal.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 314. 'The western façade is ornamented with human figures similar tocaryatides, finely sculptured in stone with great art.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 164. It is astonishing how easy the meaning of these sculptures may be deciphered when the right person undertakes the task. For instance: 'The translation of the above Sculpture seems as easy as if aDanielhad already read the handwriting on the wall! as thus—The human figure, in full life and maturity, together with the sex, presents mortality; over the figure thecross-bonesare placed, portraying the figure's earthly death; while the skull supported by expanding wings (and this Sculpture being placed above those of life and death,) presents the immortal Soul ascending on the wings of Time, above all earthly life, or the corruption of the grave!'Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 103.[V-55]Stephens,Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 312, 316, gives views of the east and west fronts, the former of which I have inserted in my description; and inCent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420, a view from the south, which is copied inArmin,Das Heutige Mex., p. 92, which last authority also gives what seems to be a restoration of the pyramid from Waldeck. Waldeck's plates, ix., x., xi., relate to this structure; plate ix. is a view from a point above the whole and directly over the centre, including a ground plan of the summit building; plate x. is the western elevation of the pyramid and building with the eastern elevation of the latter; and plate xi. is a view of one of the statues as already mentioned. Charnay's photograph 35 gives a western view of the whole, which is also included in photograph 38; it is to be noted that his plan places the Casa del Adivino considerably south of the Nunnery. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., p. 162, gives an altogether imaginary view of the pyramid and building, perhaps intended for the western front. 'La base de la colline factice est revêtue d'un parement vertical avec une frise dans laquelle on retrouve l'imitation des rondins de bois, surmontés d'une sorte de balustrade presque entièrement détruite.'Viollet-le-Duc, inCharnay,Ruines Amér., p. 70. On the east front of the building are 'deux portes carrées et deux petits pavillons couverts d'une espèce de toit reposant sur des pilastres.' 'Tel est ce monument, chef-d'œuvre d'art et d'élégance. Si j'étais arrivé un an plus tard à Uxmal, je n'aurais pas pu en donner un dessin complet; le centre avait été dégradé par suite de l'extraction de quelques pierres nécessaires à la solidité de cette partie de l'édifice.'Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 96. Yet if the structure was as perfect and his examination as complete as he claims, it is very strange, to say the least, that he did not discover the apartments in the western projections. Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33, says that the interior walls of this building are plastered. Stephens, Charnay, and Brasseur,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 578-88, give the tradition of the Dwarf, which gives this temple one of its names. 'The construction of these ornaments is not less peculiar and striking than the general effect. There were no tablets or single stones, each representing separately and by itself an entire subject; but every ornament or combination is made up of separate stones, on each of which part of the subject was carved, and which was then set in its place in the wall.' 'Perhaps it may, with propriety, be called a species of sculptured mosaic.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 422.[V-54]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 248-51, 227-8;Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 166, 157;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 74;Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 307-8;Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 35;Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., p. 51.[V-55]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 188, 221-2.[V-56]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 122, with plate showing front of one building.[V-57]On Xcoch and Nohpat seeStephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 348-58, 362-8, with cut of the pyramid, beside those given in the text. Cut of former ruin reproduced inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 144-5. 'Una infinita multitud de edificios enteramente arruinados, esparcidos sobre toda la extension del terreno que puede abrazar la vista. Esta como cadena de ruinas que desde Uxmal se prolonga con direccion al S.E. por mas de 4 millas, induce á creer que es la continuacion de esa inmensa ciudad.' 'Muchos edificios colosales enteramente arruinados, que, aunque compartidos casi del mismo modo que en Uxmal, indican, sin embargo, mayor antigüedad; porque siendo construidos con iguales materias, y con no menor solidez, las injurias del tiempo son mas evidentes sobre cuantos objetos se presentan á la vista. Aún se nota la configuracion y trazo de las rámpas, átrios y plazas, donde andan, como diseminados en grupos, restos de altares, multitud de piedras escuadradas talladas en medios relievos representando calaveras y canillas, trozos de columnas, y cornizas y estátuas caprichosas ó simbólicas.' This visitor describes most of the monuments mentioned by Stephens. The picote, or phallus, together with a sculptured head, he brought away with him.M. F. P., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 365-7.[V-58]'The cornice running over the doorways, tried by the severest rules of art recognised among us, would embellish the architecture of any known era, and amid a mass of barbarism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, it stands as an offering by American builders worthy of the acceptance of a polished people.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 387-95, with plates of the whole front, an enlarged portion of the same, and the interior of the room mentioned. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., p. 149, devotes a few lines to this building, but furnishes no details.[V-59]The front is as usual decorated with sculpture, but it is much fallen. Plate showing the front inStephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 397.[V-60]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 398-400, with cuts of the Casa de Justicia and of the Arch; the latter being also inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 139.[V-61]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 386-7, 402-14, with cuts and plates. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., pp. 148-9, thus describes these sculptured jambs, which he found where Stephens left them placed against the walls of the room: 'They are about six feet high and two wide; the front facings of which are deeply cut, representing a caçique, or other dignitary, in full dress, (apparently a rich Indian costume,) with a profusion of feathers in his head-dress. He is represented with his arms uplifted, holding a whip; a boy before him in a kneeling position, with his hands extended in supplication; underneath are hieroglyphics. The room is small, with the ceiling slightly curved.'[V-62]Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 321;Baril,Mexique, p. 129;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'Autour de cette grande ville (Uxmal), dans un rayon de plusieurs lieues, l'œil admirait les cités puissantes de Nohcacab, de Chetulul, de Kabah, de Tanchi, de Bokal et plus tard de Nohpat, dont les nobles omules se découpaient dans l'azur foncé du ciel, comme autant de fleurons dans la couronne d'Uxmal.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21.[V-63]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 30-8, 41-6, 124-6.[V-64]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 16-28, with two plates in addition to the cuts I have given.Armin,Das Heutige Mex., pp. 79-80, with two cuts, from Stephens. 'The summits of the neighboring hills are capped with gray broken walls for many miles around.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 150-3, with view of front, copied inDemocratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 536-7;Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 78-9; andId.,Great Cities, pp. 291-5.[V-65]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 40-65, with plates. The cut given in the text is also given by Baldwin,Anc. Amer., as a frontispiece.Willson's Amer. Hist., p. 86.[V-66]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 72-8, with two plates, and cut of painting.Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 86-7.[V-67]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 83-4, 87-94.[V-68]Id., vol. ii., pp. 235-43.[V-69]Un Curioso, inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 207-8, 351.[V-70]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 249, 258-61, 130-5, with four plates illustrating the ruins of Chunhuhu. At Mani 'a pillory of a conical shape, built of stones, and to the southward rises a very ancient palace.'Soza, inRio's Description, p. 7. 'On voit encore près de Mani les restes d'un édifice construit sur une colline. On appelle cette ruine le templede las monjas del fuego.'Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 48.[V-71]Authorities on Chichen Itza.Landa,Relacion, pp. 340-7,—Landa describing the ruins from personal observation, having been bishop of Mérida for several years, and died in the country in 1579;Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 300, 302, 304-6,—this author having visited Chichen in 1840, directed thereto by the advice of Mr Stephens, who had heard rumors of the existence of extensive remains;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-324,—whose visit was from March 11 to 29, 1842, and whose description, as usual, is much more complete than that of other explorers;Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 104-28,—the corresponding survey having lasted from February 10 to 14, 1842;Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 339-46, phot. 26-34,—from an exploration in 1858. Thomas Lopez Medel is also mentioned inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38, 43, as having visited Chichen by authority of the Guatemalan government. Other authors who publish accounts of Chichen, made up from the works of the preceding actual explorers, are as follows:Armin,Das Heutige Mex., pp. 80-3;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 140-4;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 15;Frost's Great Cities, pp. 282-91;Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., pp. 186, 193;Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 79-82;Davis' Antiq. Amer., p. 6;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144;Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 179, cut;Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 534-6;Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174;Schott, inSmithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-4.[V-72]Plan from Stephens. The only other plan is that given by Norman, which, in distances and the arrangement of the buildings with respect to each other, presents not the slightest similarity with the probably accurate drawings of Stephens and Catherwood. 'The ruins of Chichen lie on a hacienda, called by the name of the ancient city.' 'The first stranger who ever visited them was a native of New-York,' Mr John Burke. First brought to the notice of the world by Friederichsthal. 'The plan is made from bearings taken with the compass, and the distances were all measured with a line. The buildings are laid down on the plan according to their exterior form. All now standing are comprehended, and the whole circumference occupied by them is about two miles ... though ruined buildings appear beyond these limits.' 'In all the buildings, from some cause not easily accounted for, while one varies ten degrees one way, that immediately adjoining varies twelve or thirteen degrees in another;' still the plan shows no such arrangement.Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-3, 290, 312. The modern church 'entièrement composée de pierres enlevées aux temples et aux palais dont j'allais étudier les ruines.' The proprietor 'me proposa la cession de sa propriété et des ruines pour la somme de deux mille piastres.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 336, 344-5. 'A city which, I hazard little in saying, must have been one of the largest the world has ever seen. I beheld before me, for a circuit of many miles in diameter, the walls of palaces and temples and pyramids, more or less dilapidated.' 'No marks of human footsteps, no signs of previous visitors, were discernible; nor is there good reason to believe that any person, whose testimony of the fact has been given to the world, had ever before broken the silence which reigns over these sacred tombs of a departed civilization.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 108-9. Thirty-three leagues from Valladolid, and twenty-five from Mérida. 'Une grotte offre, à une profondeur de 52 pieds, un petit étang d'eau douce, auquel on descend par des degrés taillés dans le roc, et se prolongeant au-dessous de la surface de l'eau.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 304-6.[V-73]'Le bijou de Chichen pour la richesse des sculptures.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 342. 'The most strange and incomprehensible pile of architecture that my eyes ever beheld—elaborate, elegant, stupendous.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 119. Norman calls the building House of the Caciques.[V-74]'L'édifice appeléla casa de las Monjas(la maison des nonnes) est long de 157 pieds, large de 86, haut de 47. Dans la partie inférieure, il n'y a pas de trace d'ouverture. L'étage supérieur a des chambres nombreuses; les linteaux des portes sont ornés d'hiéroglyphes.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305. 'La porte(east front),surmontée de l'inscription du palais, possède en outre une ornementation de clochetons de pierre qui rappellent, comme ceux des coins de plusieurs édifices, la manière chinoise ou japonaise. Au-dessus, se trouve un magnifique médaillon représentant un chef la tête ceinte d'un diadème de plumes; quant à la vaste frise qui entoure le palais, elle est composée d'une foule de têtes énormes représentant des idoles, dont le nez est lui-même enrichi d'une figure parfaitement dessinée. Ces têtes sont séparées par des panneaux de mosaïque en croix, assez communs dans le Yucatan.' 'Le développement du palais et de la pyramide est d'environ soixante-quinze mètres.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3. Photograph 30 shows the eastern front, and 29 the northern, of the wing; 26 the north side of the buildinga; 27 the eastern, and 28 the southern front of the Iglesia,b. 'La façade(eastern)est même d'un beau caractère, et la composition de la porte avec le bas-relief qui la surmonte est pleine d'une grandeur sauvage, d'un effet saisissant. Mieux traités que dans les exemples précédents, l'appareil des parements est plus régulier, et il présente cette particularité très-remarquable, qu'il s'accorde exactement avec la décoration.'Viollet-le-Duc, inId., p. 60. East wing 32 by 50 feet, and 20 feet high. 'Over the door-way ... is a heavy lintel of stone, containing two double rows of hieroglyphics, with a sculptured ornament intervening. Above these are the remains of hooks carved in stone, with raised lines of drapery running through them ... over which, surrounded by a variety of chaste and beautifully executed borders, encircled within a wreath, is a female figure in a sitting posture, in basso-relievo, having a head-dress of feathers, cords, and tassels, and the neck ornamented.' Buildinga, 10×35×20 feet; buildingb, 13×22×36 feet. Main platform 75×100 feet. 'On the eastern end of these rooms (in 1st story over the solid basement) is a hall running transversely, four feet wide ... one side of which is filled with a variety of sculptured work, principally rosettes and borders, with rows of small pilasters; having three square recesses.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 169-73, with view of eastern front of wing, and of north front of the whole structure. 'Over the doorway (eastern front) are twenty small cartouches of hieroglyphics in four rows, five in a row.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 293, with plates of eastern front, northern front, and the Iglesia.[V-75]Akab-Tziband notAkatzeeb, as Stephens spells it.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 12;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 291-2, with plate of front and of the sculptured lintel. 'Those (rooms) fronting the south are the most remarkable, the inner doorways having each a stone lintel of an unusually large size, measuring thirty-two inches wide, forty-eight long, and twelve deep; having on its inner side a sculptured figure of an Indian in full dress, with cap and feathers, sitting upon a cushioned seat, finely worked; having before him a vase containing flowers, with his right hand extended over it, his left resting upon the side of the cushion—the whole bordered with hieroglyphics. The front part of this lintel contains two rows of hieroglyphics. 43×150×20 feet, walls 3 feet thick.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 123-4. 'Un énorme bâtiment près des Nonnes, mais totalemente dénué de sculptures.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 344.[V-76]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 311-17, with plates of north front of the castle and its pyramid, and the interior of the room, besides the cut of the monsters' heads given in my text. Bishop Landa gives a description probably intended for this edifice and even gives a plan of it. His account, except in mentioning four stairways, agrees very well with that of later visitors, and is as follows: 'This edifice has four stairways facing the four parts of the world; they are 33 feet wide, each having 91 steps, very difficult of ascent. The steps have the same height and width as ours. Each stairway has two low balustrades, two feet wide, of good stonework like all the building. The edifice is not sharp-cornered, because from the ground upward between the balustrades the cubic blocks are rounded, ascending by degrees and elegantly narrowing the building. There was, when I saw it, at the foot of each balustrade a fierce serpent's mouth very strangely worked. Above the stairways there is on the summit a small level platform in which is an edifice of four rooms. Three of them extend round without interruption, each having a door in the middle and being covered with an arch. The northern room is of peculiar form, and has a corridor of great pillars. The middle one, which must have been a kind of little court between the rooms, has a door which leads to the northern corridor and is closed with wood at the top, and served for burning perfumes. In the entrance of this door or corridor is a kind of coat of arms sculptured in stone, which I could not well understand.'Landa,Relacion, pp. 342-4. 550 feet in circumference at the base, its sides facing the cardinal points. 'The angles and sides were beautifully laid with stones of an immense size, gradually lessening, as the work approached the summit.' Stairways on north and east 30 feet wide and narrowing toward the top. The south and west slopes also mount in steps, each four feet high. Monsters' heads at foot of eastern stairway. Slope 100 feet; building 42 feet square; stone door-jambs have holes drilled through their inner angles; interior walls are plastered and painted with figures now very dim; roof perfectly flat and covered with soil. This author in his whole description evidently confounds the north with the east front.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 115-17, with view of pyramid. Charnay's phot. 32 gives a view of the Chateau. 120 feet high, 159 feet square at base; platform 60 feet square; 80 steps in the stairway.Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.[V-77]'Tenia delante la escalera del corte(of the castle)algo aparte dos teatros de canteria pequeños de a quatro escaleras, y enlosados por arriba en que dizen representavan las farsas y comedias para solaz del pueblo.'Landa,Relacion, p. 344.[V-78]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 303-11. Plates giving a general view of the Gymnasium, the front of the building on the eastern wall, and the painted and sculptured figures. 'Le monument se composait autrefois de deux pyramides perpendiculaires et parallèles, d'un développement de cent dix mètres environ, avec plate-forme disposée pour les spectateurs. Aux extrémités deux petits édifices semblables, sur une esplanade de six mêtres de hauteur, devaient servir aux juges, ou d'habitation aux guardiens du gymnase.' Of the two chambers on the eastern wall, 'la seconde, entière aujourd'hui, est couverte de peintures. Ce sont des guerriers et des prêtres, quelques-uns avec barbe noire et drapés dans de vastes tuniques, la tête ornée de coiffures diverses. Les couleurs employées sont le noir, le jaune, le rouge, et le blanc.... Dans le bas et en dehors du monument se trouve la salle dont nous donnons les bas-reliefs, qui sont certainement ce qu'il y a de plus curieux à Chichen-Itza. Toutes les figures en bas-relief, sculptées sur les murailles de cette salle, ont conservé le type de la race indienne existante.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 140-1. Phot. 33 and 34 show the sculptured procession of tigers and that of human figures, of which I have given a portion in my text. 'On observera que les joints des pierres ne sont pascoupésconformément à l'habitude des constructeurs d'appareils, mais que les pierres, ne formant pasliaison, présentent plusieurs joints les uns au-dessus des autres, et ne tiennent que par l'adhérence des mortiers, qui les réunit au blocage intérieur. Par le fait, ces parements ne sont autre chose qu'une décoration, un revêtement collé devant un massif.'Viollet-le-Duc, inId., pp. 48-9. Walls stand on foundations about 16 feet high; columns two feet in diameter; walls 250×16×26 feet and 130 feet apart; building of southern wall (eastern, Norman having completely lost his reckoning at Chichen in the points of the compass) 24 feet high; rings two feet thick; line of rubbish in form of a curve connecting main and end walls (candd). General view of the Temple and cut of the ring.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 111-15. Walls 262×18×27 feet.Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.[V-79]Cuts fromStephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 300-1. Terrace 55 by 62 feet; stairway 20 feet wide; building 23 by 43.Ib.'Foundations of about twenty feet in height, which were surrounded and sustained by well-cemented walls of hewn stone with curved angles' 240 feet in circumference. Building 21 by 40 feet. 'Across these halls were beams of wood, creased as if they had been worn by hammock-ropes.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 124-5. Foundation only two mètres high, but photograph 31 shows this to be an error.Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 344. 'Deux petits temples (E and D), ayant leur façade au sud et à l'est; le vestibule du premier est orné d'hiéroglyphes.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.[V-80]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 298-300, with view of the building. This author is at fault so far as dimensions are concerned, since 4 and 5 feet, the width of the corridors, and 3¾ feet, half the diameter of the solid central mass, exceed 11 feet, half the diameter of the whole building, to say nothing of the two walls. 'Bâti en manière de mur à limaçon.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 344. Top of first terrace, 30 feet high, 125 feet square; second terrace 50 feet square and 12 feet high; on this terrace is a pyramidical square 50 feet high, divided into rooms; on the centre of this square is the Dome—'three conic structures, one within the other, a space of six feet intervening; each cone communicating with the others by doorways, the inner one forming the shaft. At the height of about ten feet, the cones are united by means of transoms of zuporte. Around these cones are evidences of spiral stairs, leading to the summit.' It is clear that either Stephens' description or that of Norman is very incorrect. Norman compares this Dome to a 'Greenan Temple' in Donegal, Ireland.Rambles in Yuc., pp. 118-19, with a cut which agrees with Stephens' cut and text. Tower 50 feet high, 36 feet in diameter; surrounding wall 756 feet in circumference and twenty-five feet high.Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.[V-81]Four hundred and eighty bases of overthrown columns. 'Des colonnades qui, bien que d'une construction lourde, surprennent par leur étendue.'Friederichsthal, loc. cit., pp. 302, 300;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 317-18, and view.[V-82]'Had the Spaniards selected this for the site of their city of Valladolid, a few leagues distant, it is highly probable that not a vestige of the ancient edifices would now be seen.'Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. 'Lieu qui offre beaucoup l'apparence d'une ville sainte.'Friederichsthal, loc. cit., p. 300. Dr Arthur Schott discourses, in theSmithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-5, on a face, or mask, of 'semiagatized xyolite, still bearing the marks of silicified coniferous wood, a fossil probably foreign to the soil of the peninsula.' It was found at Chichen, and the Doctor thinks it may have some deep mythologic meaning, which he generously leaves to some other ethnologist to decipher. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., p. 127, states that the hewn blocks of stone at Chichen are uniformly 12 by 6 inches. M. Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 47, speaks of a reported silver collar bearing an inscription in Greek, Hebrew, and Phœnician letters, found in the 'grottes cristallines de Chixhen.' But even this enthusiastic antiquarian looks at this report with much distrust.[V-83]Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144;Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 87;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 340-4.[V-84]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 272-85;Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 146-7;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 22, 70, 73, 102-3, 111;Bradford's Amer. Antiq., p. 103;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.[V-85]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 130-9, with cuts;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 127-9, with cuts. Near the village of Telchaquillo.Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. Surrounded by a ditch that can be traced for three miles.Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., pp. 194-5. 'Se dice que Mayapan ... estaba murada, pero fué demolida hasta sus cimientos, y únicamente los grandes montones de piedras indican que fué una gran poblacion.'Un Curioso, inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 206.[V-86]'Los españoles poblaron aqui una ciudad, y llamaronla Mérida, por la estrañeza y grandeza de los edificios.' As to the size of the pyramid mentioned it is 'mas de dos carreras de caballo'—that is twice as far as a horse can run without taking breath—in extent. The cement is made with the juice of the bark of a certain tree, 'El primero edificio de los quatro quartos nos dio el adelantado Montejo a nosotros hecho un monte aspero, limpiamosle y emos hecho en el con su propria piedra un razonable monesterio todo de piedra y una buena yglesia que llamamos la Madre de Dios.'Landa,Relacion, pp. 330-8, with cut. 'Entre aquel cerro, y otro como èl hecho à mano, que està à la parte Oriental de la Ciudad; se determinò fuesse fundada, y eran tan grandes, que con la piedra que auia en el que estaban, se obraron quantos edificios ay en la Ciudad, con que quedò todo el sitio llano, que es la Plaça mayor oy, y sus quadras en contorno, y con la del de la parte Oriental, se edifico nuestro Conuento por caerle cercano, despues se han hecho muchas casas, y todo el Conuento, y Iglesia de la Mejorada, que tambien es nuestro, y tiene material para otros muy muchos.'Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 138. 'Auia junto adonde està aora la Plaça entre otros cerros, vno que llamaban el grande de los Kues, adoratorio que era de Idolos lleno de arboleda.'Id., p. 149. Tihoo was built by the Tutul-Xius, and had a celebrated temple to Baklum-Chaam, the Maya Priapus.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 8-9. 'En el pátio del convento de S. Francisco está una cruz.... En la huerta del mismo convento se ven aun algunas piedras curiosamente labradas con cotas y morreones á la antigua romana, y púnica.'Alegre,Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 112. The buildings were 'construits en pierres de taille fort grandes. On ignore qui les a bâtis; il paraît que ce fut avant la naissance de Jésus-Christ, car il y avait au-dessus des arbres aussi gros que ceux qui croissaient au pied. Ces bâtiments ont cinq toises de hauteur, et sont construits en pierres sèches; au sommet de ces édifices sont quatre appartements divisés en cellules comme celles des moines; ils ont vingt pieds de long et dix de large; les jambages des portes sont d'un seul morceau, et le haut est voûté.'Bienvenida,Lettre, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 310-11. 'In different parts of the city are the remains of Indian buildings.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 398. Montanus,Nieuwe Weereld, p. 259, says that Mérida is built on the ruins of Mayapan. Malte-Brun,Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 465, confounds Mérida with the ruins farther south, mentioned by Padre Soza. See mention inNorman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 45-8;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 23, 55-6;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 37;Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174;Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 243-4;Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., p. 269;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 94-8.[V-87]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 440-4, vol. i., p. 127, with plate;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'Les monuments les plus anciens, dont les restes sont composés d'énormes blocs de pierres brutes, posés quelquefois les uns sur les autres, sans aucun ciment qui les unisse. Tels sont les édifices d'un lieu voisin de l'hacienda d'Aké, située à 27 milles à l'est-sud-est de Mérida.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 300.[V-88]Stephens speaks of the 'sternness and harshness of expression' of the cara gigantesca. 'A stone one foot six inches long protrudes from the chin, intended, perhaps, for burning copal on, as a sort of altar.'Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 434-6, with plate. 'Les alentours sont parsemés de pyramides artificielles, et deux, entre autres, sont les plus considérables de la péninsule.' M. Charnay finds fault with Catherwood for representing the colossal head as in a desert with a raging tiger and savages armed with bows and arrows in the foreground. 'A force de vouloir faire de la couleur locale, on fausse l'histoire, et on déroute la science.' He pronounces the face 'd'un genre cyclopéen. Ce sont de vastes entailles, espèces de modelages en ciment.'Ruines Amér., pp. 319-22, phot. 23-5. 'C'est une sorte de gros blocage dont les moellons, posés avec art par le sculpteur au milieu d'un mortier très-dur, ont formé les joues, la bouche, le nez, les yeux. Cette tête colossale est réellement une bâtisse enduite.' 'Les traits sont beaux, la bouche est bien faite, les yeux grands sans être saillants, le front, couvert d'un ornement, ne semble point fuyant. Cette tête était peinte comme toute l'architecture mexicaine.'Viollet-le-Duc, inId., pp. 46-7. Dr Schott pronounces Mr Stephens' description unsatisfactory, especially his calling the face harsh and stern in expression. The features are feminine in their cast, and of the narrow rather than of the broad type. 'The whole face exhibits a very remarkable regularity and conforms strictly to the universally accepted principles of beauty.' 'The head-dress in the shape of a mitre is encircled just above the forehead by a band, which is fastened in front by a triple locket or tassel.' This author identities the face as that of Itzamatul, the semi-divine founder of Izamal, and explains the signification of each particular feature. His treatise is perhaps as intelligible and rational as most speculation on such topics, but it is to be noted that the Dr founds his conclusions on Clavigero's description of the Toltecs! It would be hard to prove that the cara gigantesca does not represent this particular hero, and that the large ears are not emblems of wisdom. Dr Schott pronounces it 'hazardous' to attempt to connect this face with any other than Itzamatul, and I prefer to run no risks.Smithsonian Rept., 1869, pp. 389-93. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., p. 79, speaks of a well on the platform of one of the pyramids. 'Dans ses flancs, la colline sacrée recélait de vastes appartements, des galeries et un temple souterrain, destinés, dit-on, aux mystères de la religion et à servir de nécropole aux cadavres des prêtres et des princes.' The grave of Zamná was here, and his followers erected the pyramid.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 79. History of the pyramids, seeId., tom. ii., pp. 47-8. 'On trouva dans un édifice en démolition une grande urne à trois anses, recouverte d'ornements argentés extérieurement, au fond duquel il y avait des cendres provenant d'un corps brûlé, parmi lesquelles nous trouvâmes des objets d'art en pierre.' 'Statues en demi-bosse, modelées en ciment que je dis se trouver dans les contreforts, et qui sont d'hommes de haute taille.'Landa,Relacion, pp. 326-30, with plan. 'Ay en este pueblo de Ytzamal cinco cuyos ó cerros muy altos, todos levantados de piedra seca, con sus fuerças y reparos, que ayudan á levantar la piedra en alto, y no se ven edificios enteros oy, mas los señales y vestigios están patentes en uno dellos de la parte de mediodia.' One altar was in honor of their king or false god Ytzmat-ul, and had on it the figure of a hand, being calledKab-ul, or 'working hand.' Another mound and temple in the northern part of the city, the highest now standing, was calledKinich-Kakmó, or 'sun with fiery rayed face.' Another, on which the convent is founded, isPpapp-Hol-Chac, 'house of heads and lightnings.' Another in the south calledHunpictok, 'captain with an army of 8000 flints.'Lizana,Devocionario, 1663, inLanda,Relacion, pp. 348-64.[V-89]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 137-232, with plates and cuts;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 101, 146-7;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-3.[V-90]On these east coast buildings seen by Córdova, Grijalva, and Cortés, seeDiaz,Itinéraire, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 5-9; and inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 282-6;Cortés,Vida, inId., p. 339;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 497, 505-7;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 352;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i.;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 22-4;Id.,Hist. Ind., fol. 60;Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii.;Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 4;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 41;Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., p. 181;Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 241-4;Folsom, inCortés,Despatches, p. 20.[V-91]Voy. Pitt., p. 102.[V-92]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 387-409, with plates and cuts.[V-93]'They founde auncient towers there, and the ruines of such as hadde beene broken downe and destroyed, seeming very auncient: but one aboue the rest, whereto they ascended by 18 steppes or staires, as they ascende to famous, and renowned temples.'Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii. Grijalva found a tower 'xviii gradi de altura et tutta massiza al pede et tenia a torno clxxx piedi, et incima de essa era una torre piccola la quale era de statura de homini doi uno sopra laltro.'Diaz,Itinerario, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 284, 287. See also the authorities referred to innote 89.Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 362-80, with cut;Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 321;Gondra, inAlbum Mex., tom. i., p. 239;Mayer's Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 169;Baril,Mexique, p. 129;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 145.[V-94]Córdova found here in 1517 'torres de piedra con grados y capillas cubiertas de madera y paja en que por gentil orden estauan puestos muchos idolos, que parecian mugeres.'Gomara,Hist. Ind., fol. 60;Cortés,Vida, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 339;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 415-17, with plate.[V-95]Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 102. 'Une ville entière offre ses ruines aux investigations des archéologues.'Baril,Mexique, p. 129;Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 321.[V-96]Dampier's Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 10-11;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 418.[V-97]'Tout près du rio Lagarto se voient deux pyramides, au sommet desquelles croissent maintenant des arbres élevés et touffus.'Baril,Mexique, p. 129;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 102.[V-98]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 427-30, with plate.[V-99]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 189, 199-220;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.[V-100]'The whole of Campeachy rests upon a subterraneous cavern of the ancient Mayas. It is now difficult to ascertain whether these quarries or galleries, which, according to the traditions of the country, are understood to be immense, served for the abode of the people who executed the work. Nothing reveals the marks of man's sojournings here; not even the traces of smoke upon the vaults were visible. It is more probable that the greater part of this excavation was used as a depository for their dead. This supposition has been strengthened by the discovery of many openings of seven feet deep by twenty inches in breadth, dug horizontally in the walls of the caverns. These excavations, however, are few; and the galleries have been but little investigated and less understood.' Mr Norman sent some of the skeletons discovered here to Dr Morton, who pronounced them to present many of the characteristics of the natives at the present time.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 211-18, with plates. Sr Gondra, inPrescott,Hist. Conq. Mex.(Mex. 1846) tom. iii., pp. 95-8, pl. xviii., gives engravings of four of these idols in Norman's collection, erroneously stating that they are from Stephens' work. 'I have seen some of his (Norman's) remarkable antiquities, as Penates, hieroglyphics,' etc.Davis' Antiq. Amer., p. 12. The above notice, given by Mr Norman is an almost literal translation ofWaldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 10; as is also the account byI. R. Gondra, inAlbum Mex., tom. i., p. 162. Mention of the Champoton ruins inWaldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 102;Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 321;Baril,Mexique, p. 128. Córdova in 1517 saw at Campeche 'vn torrejoncillo de piedra quadrado y gradado, en lo alto del qual estaua vn ydolo con dos fieros animales alas hijadas, como que lo comian. Y vna sierpe de quarenta y siete pies larga, y gorda quanto vn buey, hecha de piedra como el ydolo.'Gomara,Hist. Ind., fol. 61. 'On ne rencontre ni dans l'île de Carmen ni sur les bords de la Lagune aucun tumulus, aucune ruine, aucun vestige enfin de l'industrie des temps passés.' Description of the Camacho collection in Campeche, consisting of 'figurines et des vases d'argile portant encore des traces de peinture et de vernis, des instruments de musique, de menus objets de parure, des haches, des fers de lance en silex ou en obsidienne.'Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., pp. 226, 167-8. The Camacho Museum contains 'Una numerosa colleccion de ídolos de barro y piedra.... Una urna cineraria que contiene los restos de un hombre.... Una coleccion de vasos, jarros, cántaros y fuentes de piedra y barro, adornados, muchos de ellos, con geroglíficos y con pinturas vivas, frescas y bien conservadas. Una colleccion de lanzas, flechas, dardos y demas instrumentos de guerra.... Casi todos estos instrumentos son de pedernal. Otra coleccion de flautas y otros instrumentos músicos, de barro. Otra id. de zarcillos, cuentas y adornos de piedra.... Otra id. de lozas sepulcrales.... Una multitud de fragmentos arquitectónicos.'Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 373-4. 'Le canton qui s'étend de la côte de la lagune de Jerm, vers le nord-est, offre sur-tout une suite presque continue de monticules et de villes, jusqu'au point où il atteint le sanctuaire de l'île de Cozumel.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 299-300. 'Une foule de ruines d'une grande importance.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 67.[V-101]Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 193;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 341, 122, vol. i., p. 415;Landa,Relacion, pp. 344, 330;Lizana, inId., p. 358;Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 321-2;Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 366.[V-102]'La piedramargosade que están formados tales edificios, es ademas generalmente considerada como un material muy inferior para la construccion.'Friederichsthal, inDicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 292. The blocks 'ont une transparence troublée comme celle du gypse. Il est probable ... que c'est du véritable carbonate calcaire.'Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. 'A soft coralline limestone of a comparatively recent geological formation, probably of the Tertiary period.'Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.[V-103]'La poca mezcla que se advierte en ellos, es fina, tersa y tan compacta por su particular beneficio, que tomada entre los dedos una pastilla, cuyo grueso es poco mayor que el de un peso fuerte, da sumo trabajo quebrantarla.'L. G., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'Ces mortiers sont faits avec une chaux hydraulique presque pure, et ont une si complète adhérence, soit dans les massifs, soit même lorsqu'ils sont appliqués comme enduits, comme à Palenqué, qu'à peine si le marteau peut les entamer.'Viollet-le-Duc, inCharnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 59-60.[V-104]Jones says 'The term "triangularArch" cannot be admitted by the language of Architecture; he (Mr Stephens) might as well have writtentriangular semicircle, terms distinctly opposed to each other.'Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 100. 'Los techos, sin variacion alguna entre sí, representan una figura ojiva, muy conocida de los árabes, y repetidamente citada por el recomendable Victor Hugo en su obra de Nuestra Sra. de Paris.'L. G., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'On dit en espagnol deboveda, qui n'exprime aucunement cette architecture toute particulière;bovedaveut dire voûte, et ces intérieurs n'y ressemblent nullement; ce sont deux murs parallèles jusqu'à une hauteur de trois mètres, obliquant alors l'un vers l'autre, et terminés par une dalle de trente centimètres.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3.[V-105]Friederichsthal erroneously says the wooden lintels are always sculptured, and that each room has air-holes above the cornice, both square and round, from 3 to 5 inches in diameter.Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 311.[V-106]Mr Jones believes that the ornaments on the Maya façades must have been sculptured after the stones in a rough state had been put in place, and not before, as Mr Stephens thinks.Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 92. The following is Mr Waldeck's not very clear explanation of the mode of decorating these façades. 'Voulaient-ils couvrir une façade d'ornements ou de figures symboliques, ils commençaient par peindre la muraille toute entière de la couleur qu'ils avaient choisie; presque toujours c'était le rouge qui formait le fond.... Cette première opération terminée, on posait sur le mur peint la marqueterie en pierre qui devait servir d'ornement et on la badigeonnait avec plus de soin que le fond. Le bleu était employé dans ce travail.'Voy. Pitt., pp. 72-3. 'In the Mayan delineations of the human countenance the contracted facial angle is as remarkable as in the paintings of the Aztecs.'Prichard's Researches, vol. v., p. 346. SeeFoster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 302. 'On retrouve chez quelques-uns de ces Indiens les traits bien accentués de la race au front fuyant et au nez busqué, qui construisit les palais d'Uxmal, de Palenque, et de Chichen-Itza. Je fus frappé de cette analogie, quoique la similitude soit loin d'être parfaite, les artistes nationaux ayant exagéré vraisemblablement certains caractères qui constituaient alors l'idéal de la beauté.'Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., p. 147.[V-107]Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 212-13.[V-108]'Depuis le cap Catoche jusqu'au pied de la Cordillère centrale, analogie frappante dans le caractère, l'ensemble et les proportions des diverses parties des ouvrages.' 'Quant à l'impression que fait éprouver l'examen de l'architecture de tous ces édifices, je dois ajouter que les idées fines de l'artiste ont évidemment été exécutées d'une manière qui ne les rend nullement.' 'Toutefois on rencontre, notamment à Uxmal, des preuves suffisantes qu'ils étaient parvenus à plus de dextérité dans quelques-unes de leurs sculptures. On reconnaît leur addresse à représenter les formes humaines, dans les idoles et les figures en argile.... Ces ouvrages sont supérieurs, sous tous les rapports de l'art, à tout ce que cette nation a produit.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 303, 312. 'Esa bella y elegante arquitectura, esos soberbios é imponentes adornos, superiores á todo lo que hasta hoy ha podido verse y concebirse.' 'Ruinas soberbias, que agobian la imaginacion y oprimen el entendimiento.'Id., inDicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 291. 'The splendid temples and palaces still standing attest the power of the priests and of the nobles; no trace remains of the huts in which dwelt the mass of the nation.'Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. Uxmal 'the American Palmyra.'Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'El primer golpe de vista de su conjunto, es grandioso, es imponente. Examinandolos luego en detall, causa admiracion el distinto órden de arquitectura que se nota en cada edificio, la elegancia caprichosa de sus formas, la abundancia y riqueza del material que interior y exteriormente es todo de piedra de sillería, el lujo prodigioso de los adornos variados hasta lo infinito de un modo raro, original y nunca visto, y la perfeccion y maestría con que todo ha sido ejecutado.' 'Nótase en Uxmal ... la infancia del arte en punto á estatuaria.'M. F. P., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 363, 365. 'En somme, les ruines d'Uxmal nous paraissent être la dernière expression de la civilisation américaine; nulle part un tel assemblage de ruines, maisons particulières, temples et palais.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 374. 'La arquitectura de Uxmal brillante en su perspectiva, es complicada y simétrica en sus dibujos, robusta en sus cimientos y terraplenes, simbólica en sus geroglíficos y figuras humanas ... y bastante delicada en sus cornizas y molduras.'L. G., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'The sculpture at Uxmal is not only as fine, but distinctly of a Grecian character.'Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 107. 'Plusieurs de ces constructions ne laissent rien à désirer au point de vue du bon goût et des règles de l'art.'Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., p. 193. M. Viollet-le-Duc's conclusions and speculations are mostly directed to prove that the builders were of mixed race, white and yellow, Aryan and Turanian. He supports his theory by a study of the faces among the sculptured decorations, and by pointing out in the buildings traditions of structures in wood, and also the use of mortar, the use of wood and mortar being peculiar, as he claims, to different races.Charnay,Ruines Amér., introd. 'These antiquities show that this section of the continent was anciently occupied by a people admirably skilled in the arts of masonry, building, and architectural decoration.'Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 101. 'The builders of the ruins of the city of Chi-Chen and Uxmal excelled in the mechanic and fine arts. It is obvious that they were a cultivated, and doubtless a very numerous people.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 175. 'Ohne Zweifel zu den herrlichsten Amerikas gehören.—Welch riesenhafte Bauten für eine Nation, die alles mit steinernen Instrumenten arbeitete!'Heller,Reisen, p. 260.[V-109]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 93-9, 140, 274, 322-5, 413, vol. ii., pp. 264-73, 306, 343, 406.[V-110]'Dilato la fundacion de Uxmal á 150 ó 200 años ántes del de 1535, en que tuvo efecto la conquista del pais por los españoles.'L. G., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 276. 'Aunque el mar de conjeturas que las cubre sea muy ancho, y de libre navegacion para todo el mundo, creo, sin embargo, que lo ménos ridículo y mas acertado es no engolfarse en él.'M. F. P., inId., p. 363. Cogolludo found in the Casa del Adivino at Uxmal traces of recent sacrificial offerings.Hist. Yuc., p. 193. 'Fassen wir nun diess alles zusammmen, so haben wir in den Ruinen Uxmals echte Denkmäler tultekischer Kunst von einem Alter von ungefähr 800 Jahren.'Heller,Reisen, p. 264. 'Elles paraissent, en majeure partie, appartenir à l'architecture toltèque et dater d'au moins mille ans.'Baril,Mexique, p. 128,. Friederichsthal, inRegistro Yuc., tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and many others regard the Yucatan and other Central American ruins as the work of the Toltecs. See vol. ii., cap. ii., and vol. v. of this work on this point. Uxmal generally regarded as having been founded by Ahcuitok Tutul-Xiu between 870 and 894 A. D.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 22. Chichen seems older than the other ruins. The Maya MS. places its discovery between 360 and 432 A. D.Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 323. 'Uxmal is placed by us as the last built of all the Ancient Cities as yet discovered on the Western Continent.'Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 104, 101. 'Evidently the city of Chi-Chen was an antiquity when the foundations of the Parthenon at Athens, and the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, were being laid.' The ruins of Yucatan 'belong to the remotest antiquity. Their age is not to be measured by hundreds, but by thousands of years.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 177-8. SeeWaldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 71, 97-8;Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 412-13;Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.[VI-1]The physical features and natural beauties of this region are perhaps more vividly and eloquently described by the French traveler Morelet than by any other visitor.Voyage, tom. i., pp. 245-85;Travels, pp. 65-111. M. Morelet visited Palenque from the Laguna de Terminos, passing up the Usumacinta and its branches, while other visitors approached for the most part from the opposite direction. He gives, moreover, much closer attention to nature in its varied aspects than to artificial monuments of the past. 'L'esprit est frappé par le rêve biblique de l'Éden, et l'œil cherche vainement l'Ève et l'Adam de ce jardin des merveilles: nul être humain n'y planta sa tente; sept lieues durant ces perspectives délicieuses se succèdent, sept lieues de ces magnifiques solitudes que bornent de trois côtés les horizons bleus de la Cordillère.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 412. 'La nature toujours prodigue de ses dons, dans ce climat enchanteur, lui assurait en profusion, avec une éternelle fertilité, et une salubrité éprouvée durant une longue suite de siècles, tout ce qu'un sol fécond, sous un ciel admirable, peut fournir spontanément de productions nécessaires à l'entretien et au repos de la vie.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 82.[VI-2]In 1746, while Padre Antonio de Solis was temporarily residing at Santo Domingo, a part of his curacy, the ruins were accidentally found by his nephews; although Stephens,Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 294, gives a report without naming his authority—probablyAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. v., orJuarros,Hist. Guat., p. 18., where the date is given as the middle of the century—which he does not credit, that they were found by a party of Spaniards in 1750. From one of the nephews, Ramon Ordoñez, then a schoolboy at San Cristóval, first heard of the ruins in which he took so deep an interest in later years. In 1773 Ordoñez sent his brother with one Gutierrez de la Torre and others to make explorations, and from their report wrote an account—probably theMemoria relativa à las ruinas de la Ciudad descubierta en las inmediaciones del pueblo de Palenque, a MS. in Brasseur's collection, (Bib. Mex. Guat., p. 113,) from which these facts were gathered—which was forwarded in 1784 to Estacheria, President of the Guatemalan Audiencia Real. President Estacheria, by an order dated Nov. 28, 1784,—Expediente sobre el descubrimiento de una gran ciudad, etc., MS., in the Archives of the Royal Hist. Acad. of Madrid,—instructed José Antonio Calderon, Lieut. Alcalde Mayor of Santo Domingo, to make further explorations. Calderon's report,—Informe de D. J. A. Calderon, etc., translated in substance inBrasseur,Palenqué, Introd., pp. 5-7,—is dated Dec. 15, 1764, so that the survey must have been very actively pushed, to bring to light as was claimed, over 200 ruined edifices in so short a time. Some drawings accompanied this report, but they have never been published. In Jan. 1785 Antonio Bernasconi, royal architect in Guatemala, was ordered to continue the survey, which he did between Feb. 25 and June 13, when he handed in his report, accompanied by drawings never published so far as I know. Bernasconi's report with all those preceding it was sent to Spain, and from the information thus given, J. B. Muñoz, Royal Historiographer, made a report on American antiquities by order of the king.In accordance with a royal cedula of March 15, 1786, Antonio del Rio was ordered by Estacheria to complete the investigations. With the aid of seventy-nine natives Del Rio proceeded to fall the trees and to clear the site of the ancient city by a general conflagration. His examination lasted from May 18 to June 2, and his report with many drawings was sent to Spain. Copies were, however, retained in Guatemala and Mexico, and one of these copies was in Brasseur's collection under the title ofDescripcion del terreno y poblacion antigua, etc.Another copy was found, part in Guatemala and the rest in Mexico, by a Dr M'Quy. It was taken to England, translated, and published by Henry Berthoud, together with a commentary by Paul Felix Cabrera, entitledTeatro Crítico Americano, all under the general title ofDescription of an Ancient City, etc., London, 1822. The work was illustrated with eighteen lithographic plates, by M. Fréd. Waldeck, ostensibly from Del Rio's drawings; but it is elsewhere stated,Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. vi., that Del Rio's drawings did not accompany the work at all. If this be true, the published plates must probably have been taken from the Latour-Allard copies of Castañeda's drawings, of which I shall speak presently, and indeed a comparison with Kingsborough's plates shows almost conclusively that such was in some cases at least their origin. Humboldt speaks of the Latour-Allard plate of the cross as differing entirely from that of Del Rio. This difference does not appear in my copies. It is possible that the plates in my copy of Del Rio's work, the only one I have ever seen, are not the ones which originally appeared with the book. A French translation by M. Warden was published by the Société de Géographie, with a part of the plates; and a German translation by J. H. von Minutoli, with an additional commentary by the translator, appeared in Berlin, 1832, asBeschreibung einer alten Stadt, etc. This contained the plates, together with many additional ones illustrating Mexican antiquities from various sources. The German editor says that the whole English edition, except two copies of proof-sheets, was destroyed; but this would seem an error, since the work is often referred to by different writers, and the price paid for the copy consulted by me does not indicate great rarity. Stephens,Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 296, speaks of this as 'the first notice in Europe of the discovery of these ruins,'—incorrectly, unless we understandprintednotice, and even then it must be noticed that Juarros,Hist. Guat., 1808-18, pp. 18-19, gave a brief account of Palenque. Del Rio, in Brasseur's opinion, was neither artist nor architect, and his exploration was less complete than those of Calderon and Bernasconi, whose reports he probably saw, notwithstanding the greater force at his disposal. 'Sin embargo de sus distinguidas circunstancias, carecia de noticias historiales para lo que pedia la materia, y de actividad para lograr un perfecto descubrimiento.'Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 320. The original Spanish of Del Rio's report, dated June 24, 1787 (?),—Informe dado par D. Antonio del Rio al brigadier D. José Estacheria, etc.—was published in 1855, in theDiccionario Univ. de Geog. etc., tom. viii., pp. 528-33. See also an extract from the same inMosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 330-4. InAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76, it is stated that Julio Garrido wrote a work on Palenque about 1805, which was not published. That is all I know of it.
[V-47]I append a few general quotations concerning the Nunnery: The court façades 'ornamented from one end to the other with the richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal; presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now to be seen among its ruins.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 300. 'All these façades were painted; the traces of the colour are still visible, and the reader may imagine what the effect must have been when all this building was entire, and according to its supposed design, in its now desolate doorways stood noble Maya maidens, like the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish and keep alive the sacred fire burning in the temples.'Id., p. 307. The bottoms of the caissons of the diamond lattice-work are painted red. The paint is believed to be a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion, probably vegetable colors.Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 200-1; Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-4, describes a building supposed to be the Nunnery on account of the serpent ornament, which, however, is stated to be on the exterior front of the building. Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 177, describes the court and surrounding edifices, stating that the serpent surrounds all four sides. 'Vn gran patio con muchos aposentos separados en forma de claustro donde viuian estas doncellas. Es fabrica digna de admiracion, porque lo exterior de las paredes es todo de piedra labrada, donde estàn sacadas de medio relieue figuras de hombres armados, diuersidad de animales, pajaros, y otras cosas.' 'Todos los quatro lienços de aquel gran patio (que se puede llamar plaça) los ciñe vna culebra labrada en la misma piedra de las paredes, que termina la cola por debaxo de la cabeça, y tiene toda ella en circuito quatrocientos pies.' Jones,Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 93, accounts for the superiority of the sculpture on the court façades by supposing that it was executed at a later date; its protection from the weather would also tend to its better preservation.
[V-48]Although Zavala says, speaking of the Uxmal ruins in general: 'Celles qui forment l'arête à partir de laquelle les plans des murs convergent pour déterminer la voûte prismatique dont j'ai déjà parlé, sont taillées en forme de coude dont l'angle est obtus.'Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. 'In the rear of, and within a few feet of the eastern range, are the remains of a similar range, which is now almost in total ruins. There appear to have been connecting walls, or walks, from this range to the Pyramid near by, as I judged from the rubbish and stones that can be traced from one to the other.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. Cuts fromStephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 311, 430; one of them reproduced inBaldwin's Anc. Amer.
[V-49]So say Stephens' text and plan, Viollet-le-Duc, and Charnay's plan; but Stephens' views, except that inCent. Amer., Charnay's photographs, and Waldeck's plan and drawings, do not indicate an oval form. I am inclined to believe that the corners are simply rounded somewhat more than in the other Uxmal structures, and that the oval form indicated in the plan is not correct.
[V-50]M. Viollet-le-Duc says it is 'entièrement composé d'un blocage de maçonnerie revêtu de gros moellons parementés,' inCharnay,Ruines Amér., p. 70.
[V-51]Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 193. 'La subida principal está á la parte del oriente y se practica por medio de una grada, que á la altura referida, guarda, segun mi cálculo, el muy escaso declive de treinta pies á lo mas: esta circunstancia, como se deja entender, la hace en extremo pendiente y peligrosa. Si no me engaño, la grada á que me refiero, tiene de 95 á 100 escaloncitos de piedra labrada, pero tan angostos, que apénas pueden recibir la mitad del pié: la cubren muchos troncos de árboles, espinos, y, lo que es peor, una multitud de yerba, resbaladiza.' The author, however, climbed the stairway barefooted.L. G., inRegistro de Yuc., tom. i., p. 278. 'Les côtés de la pyramide sont tellement lisses qu'on ne peut y monter même à l'aide des arbres et des broussailles qui poussent dans les interstices des pierres.'Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 95. The eastern slope 70°, and the western 80°.Heller,Reisen, p. 256. Stairway has 180 steps, each 12 to 15 centimetres wide and high.Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33. 100 steps, each 5 inches wide.Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 71. 100 steps, each 6 inches wide.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 163. About 130 steps, 8 or 9 inches high.Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 421.
[V-52]'Une espèce de petite chapelle en contre-bas tournée à l'ouest; ce petit morceau est fouillé comme un bijou; une inscription parait avoir été gravée, formant ceinture au-dessus de la porte.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 368. 'Loaded with ornaments more rich, elaborate, and carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 313.
[V-53]In the matter of dimensions, the Casa del Adivino presents the same variations as the other structures—Stephens,Yucatan, being the authority followed. Waldeck makes the platform 45 by 91 feet 8 inches, and the building 81 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 8 inches. Zavala calls the building 8 metres square. According to Norman the pyramid measures 500 feet at the base, and is 100 feet high, the platform being 21 by 72 feet, and the building 12 by 60, and 20 feet high. Charnay pronounces the pyramid 75 to 80 feet high. Stephens,Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 421-2, gives the dimensions as follows: Pyramid, 120 by 240 feet at base; platform, 4½ feet wide outside the building; building, 68 feet long; rooms, 9 feet wide, 18, 18, and 34 feet long. Friederichsthal's dimensions: Pyramid, 120 by 192 feet and 25½ feet high; platform, 23⅓ by 89 feet; building, 12 by 73 feet, and 19¼ feet high.Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 307. Heller's dimensions: Pyramid, 135 by 225 feet, and 105 feet high; platform, 20 by 70 feet; building, 12 by 60 feet, and 20 feet high.
[V-54]'Il est à remarquer que le pénis des statues était en érection, et que toutes ces figures étaient plus particulièrement mutilées dans cette partie du corps.'Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 95-6. Plate xi. shows the statue and accompanying portion of the wall. 'The emblems of life and death appear on the wall in close juxtaposition, confirming the belief in the existence of that worship practiced by the Egyptians, and all other eastern nations, and before referred to as prevalent among the people of Uxmal.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 314. 'The western façade is ornamented with human figures similar tocaryatides, finely sculptured in stone with great art.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 164. It is astonishing how easy the meaning of these sculptures may be deciphered when the right person undertakes the task. For instance: 'The translation of the above Sculpture seems as easy as if aDanielhad already read the handwriting on the wall! as thus—The human figure, in full life and maturity, together with the sex, presents mortality; over the figure thecross-bonesare placed, portraying the figure's earthly death; while the skull supported by expanding wings (and this Sculpture being placed above those of life and death,) presents the immortal Soul ascending on the wings of Time, above all earthly life, or the corruption of the grave!'Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 103.
[V-55]Stephens,Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 312, 316, gives views of the east and west fronts, the former of which I have inserted in my description; and inCent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420, a view from the south, which is copied inArmin,Das Heutige Mex., p. 92, which last authority also gives what seems to be a restoration of the pyramid from Waldeck. Waldeck's plates, ix., x., xi., relate to this structure; plate ix. is a view from a point above the whole and directly over the centre, including a ground plan of the summit building; plate x. is the western elevation of the pyramid and building with the eastern elevation of the latter; and plate xi. is a view of one of the statues as already mentioned. Charnay's photograph 35 gives a western view of the whole, which is also included in photograph 38; it is to be noted that his plan places the Casa del Adivino considerably south of the Nunnery. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., p. 162, gives an altogether imaginary view of the pyramid and building, perhaps intended for the western front. 'La base de la colline factice est revêtue d'un parement vertical avec une frise dans laquelle on retrouve l'imitation des rondins de bois, surmontés d'une sorte de balustrade presque entièrement détruite.'Viollet-le-Duc, inCharnay,Ruines Amér., p. 70. On the east front of the building are 'deux portes carrées et deux petits pavillons couverts d'une espèce de toit reposant sur des pilastres.' 'Tel est ce monument, chef-d'œuvre d'art et d'élégance. Si j'étais arrivé un an plus tard à Uxmal, je n'aurais pas pu en donner un dessin complet; le centre avait été dégradé par suite de l'extraction de quelques pierres nécessaires à la solidité de cette partie de l'édifice.'Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 96. Yet if the structure was as perfect and his examination as complete as he claims, it is very strange, to say the least, that he did not discover the apartments in the western projections. Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33, says that the interior walls of this building are plastered. Stephens, Charnay, and Brasseur,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 578-88, give the tradition of the Dwarf, which gives this temple one of its names. 'The construction of these ornaments is not less peculiar and striking than the general effect. There were no tablets or single stones, each representing separately and by itself an entire subject; but every ornament or combination is made up of separate stones, on each of which part of the subject was carved, and which was then set in its place in the wall.' 'Perhaps it may, with propriety, be called a species of sculptured mosaic.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 422.
[V-54]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 248-51, 227-8;Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 166, 157;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 74;Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 307-8;Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 35;Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., p. 51.
[V-55]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 188, 221-2.
[V-56]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 122, with plate showing front of one building.
[V-57]On Xcoch and Nohpat seeStephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 348-58, 362-8, with cut of the pyramid, beside those given in the text. Cut of former ruin reproduced inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 144-5. 'Una infinita multitud de edificios enteramente arruinados, esparcidos sobre toda la extension del terreno que puede abrazar la vista. Esta como cadena de ruinas que desde Uxmal se prolonga con direccion al S.E. por mas de 4 millas, induce á creer que es la continuacion de esa inmensa ciudad.' 'Muchos edificios colosales enteramente arruinados, que, aunque compartidos casi del mismo modo que en Uxmal, indican, sin embargo, mayor antigüedad; porque siendo construidos con iguales materias, y con no menor solidez, las injurias del tiempo son mas evidentes sobre cuantos objetos se presentan á la vista. Aún se nota la configuracion y trazo de las rámpas, átrios y plazas, donde andan, como diseminados en grupos, restos de altares, multitud de piedras escuadradas talladas en medios relievos representando calaveras y canillas, trozos de columnas, y cornizas y estátuas caprichosas ó simbólicas.' This visitor describes most of the monuments mentioned by Stephens. The picote, or phallus, together with a sculptured head, he brought away with him.M. F. P., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 365-7.
[V-58]'The cornice running over the doorways, tried by the severest rules of art recognised among us, would embellish the architecture of any known era, and amid a mass of barbarism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, it stands as an offering by American builders worthy of the acceptance of a polished people.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 387-95, with plates of the whole front, an enlarged portion of the same, and the interior of the room mentioned. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., p. 149, devotes a few lines to this building, but furnishes no details.
[V-59]The front is as usual decorated with sculpture, but it is much fallen. Plate showing the front inStephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 397.
[V-60]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 398-400, with cuts of the Casa de Justicia and of the Arch; the latter being also inBaldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 139.
[V-61]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 386-7, 402-14, with cuts and plates. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., pp. 148-9, thus describes these sculptured jambs, which he found where Stephens left them placed against the walls of the room: 'They are about six feet high and two wide; the front facings of which are deeply cut, representing a caçique, or other dignitary, in full dress, (apparently a rich Indian costume,) with a profusion of feathers in his head-dress. He is represented with his arms uplifted, holding a whip; a boy before him in a kneeling position, with his hands extended in supplication; underneath are hieroglyphics. The room is small, with the ceiling slightly curved.'
[V-62]Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 321;Baril,Mexique, p. 129;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'Autour de cette grande ville (Uxmal), dans un rayon de plusieurs lieues, l'œil admirait les cités puissantes de Nohcacab, de Chetulul, de Kabah, de Tanchi, de Bokal et plus tard de Nohpat, dont les nobles omules se découpaient dans l'azur foncé du ciel, comme autant de fleurons dans la couronne d'Uxmal.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21.
[V-63]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 30-8, 41-6, 124-6.
[V-64]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 16-28, with two plates in addition to the cuts I have given.Armin,Das Heutige Mex., pp. 79-80, with two cuts, from Stephens. 'The summits of the neighboring hills are capped with gray broken walls for many miles around.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 150-3, with view of front, copied inDemocratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 536-7;Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 78-9; andId.,Great Cities, pp. 291-5.
[V-65]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 40-65, with plates. The cut given in the text is also given by Baldwin,Anc. Amer., as a frontispiece.Willson's Amer. Hist., p. 86.
[V-66]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 72-8, with two plates, and cut of painting.Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 86-7.
[V-67]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 83-4, 87-94.
[V-68]Id., vol. ii., pp. 235-43.
[V-69]Un Curioso, inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 207-8, 351.
[V-70]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 249, 258-61, 130-5, with four plates illustrating the ruins of Chunhuhu. At Mani 'a pillory of a conical shape, built of stones, and to the southward rises a very ancient palace.'Soza, inRio's Description, p. 7. 'On voit encore près de Mani les restes d'un édifice construit sur une colline. On appelle cette ruine le templede las monjas del fuego.'Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 48.
[V-71]Authorities on Chichen Itza.Landa,Relacion, pp. 340-7,—Landa describing the ruins from personal observation, having been bishop of Mérida for several years, and died in the country in 1579;Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 300, 302, 304-6,—this author having visited Chichen in 1840, directed thereto by the advice of Mr Stephens, who had heard rumors of the existence of extensive remains;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-324,—whose visit was from March 11 to 29, 1842, and whose description, as usual, is much more complete than that of other explorers;Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 104-28,—the corresponding survey having lasted from February 10 to 14, 1842;Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 339-46, phot. 26-34,—from an exploration in 1858. Thomas Lopez Medel is also mentioned inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38, 43, as having visited Chichen by authority of the Guatemalan government. Other authors who publish accounts of Chichen, made up from the works of the preceding actual explorers, are as follows:Armin,Das Heutige Mex., pp. 80-3;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 140-4;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 15;Frost's Great Cities, pp. 282-91;Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., pp. 186, 193;Willson's Amer. Hist., pp. 79-82;Davis' Antiq. Amer., p. 6;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144;Mayer's Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 179, cut;Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 534-6;Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174;Schott, inSmithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-4.
[V-72]Plan from Stephens. The only other plan is that given by Norman, which, in distances and the arrangement of the buildings with respect to each other, presents not the slightest similarity with the probably accurate drawings of Stephens and Catherwood. 'The ruins of Chichen lie on a hacienda, called by the name of the ancient city.' 'The first stranger who ever visited them was a native of New-York,' Mr John Burke. First brought to the notice of the world by Friederichsthal. 'The plan is made from bearings taken with the compass, and the distances were all measured with a line. The buildings are laid down on the plan according to their exterior form. All now standing are comprehended, and the whole circumference occupied by them is about two miles ... though ruined buildings appear beyond these limits.' 'In all the buildings, from some cause not easily accounted for, while one varies ten degrees one way, that immediately adjoining varies twelve or thirteen degrees in another;' still the plan shows no such arrangement.Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-3, 290, 312. The modern church 'entièrement composée de pierres enlevées aux temples et aux palais dont j'allais étudier les ruines.' The proprietor 'me proposa la cession de sa propriété et des ruines pour la somme de deux mille piastres.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 336, 344-5. 'A city which, I hazard little in saying, must have been one of the largest the world has ever seen. I beheld before me, for a circuit of many miles in diameter, the walls of palaces and temples and pyramids, more or less dilapidated.' 'No marks of human footsteps, no signs of previous visitors, were discernible; nor is there good reason to believe that any person, whose testimony of the fact has been given to the world, had ever before broken the silence which reigns over these sacred tombs of a departed civilization.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 108-9. Thirty-three leagues from Valladolid, and twenty-five from Mérida. 'Une grotte offre, à une profondeur de 52 pieds, un petit étang d'eau douce, auquel on descend par des degrés taillés dans le roc, et se prolongeant au-dessous de la surface de l'eau.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 304-6.
[V-73]'Le bijou de Chichen pour la richesse des sculptures.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 342. 'The most strange and incomprehensible pile of architecture that my eyes ever beheld—elaborate, elegant, stupendous.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 119. Norman calls the building House of the Caciques.
[V-74]'L'édifice appeléla casa de las Monjas(la maison des nonnes) est long de 157 pieds, large de 86, haut de 47. Dans la partie inférieure, il n'y a pas de trace d'ouverture. L'étage supérieur a des chambres nombreuses; les linteaux des portes sont ornés d'hiéroglyphes.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305. 'La porte(east front),surmontée de l'inscription du palais, possède en outre une ornementation de clochetons de pierre qui rappellent, comme ceux des coins de plusieurs édifices, la manière chinoise ou japonaise. Au-dessus, se trouve un magnifique médaillon représentant un chef la tête ceinte d'un diadème de plumes; quant à la vaste frise qui entoure le palais, elle est composée d'une foule de têtes énormes représentant des idoles, dont le nez est lui-même enrichi d'une figure parfaitement dessinée. Ces têtes sont séparées par des panneaux de mosaïque en croix, assez communs dans le Yucatan.' 'Le développement du palais et de la pyramide est d'environ soixante-quinze mètres.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3. Photograph 30 shows the eastern front, and 29 the northern, of the wing; 26 the north side of the buildinga; 27 the eastern, and 28 the southern front of the Iglesia,b. 'La façade(eastern)est même d'un beau caractère, et la composition de la porte avec le bas-relief qui la surmonte est pleine d'une grandeur sauvage, d'un effet saisissant. Mieux traités que dans les exemples précédents, l'appareil des parements est plus régulier, et il présente cette particularité très-remarquable, qu'il s'accorde exactement avec la décoration.'Viollet-le-Duc, inId., p. 60. East wing 32 by 50 feet, and 20 feet high. 'Over the door-way ... is a heavy lintel of stone, containing two double rows of hieroglyphics, with a sculptured ornament intervening. Above these are the remains of hooks carved in stone, with raised lines of drapery running through them ... over which, surrounded by a variety of chaste and beautifully executed borders, encircled within a wreath, is a female figure in a sitting posture, in basso-relievo, having a head-dress of feathers, cords, and tassels, and the neck ornamented.' Buildinga, 10×35×20 feet; buildingb, 13×22×36 feet. Main platform 75×100 feet. 'On the eastern end of these rooms (in 1st story over the solid basement) is a hall running transversely, four feet wide ... one side of which is filled with a variety of sculptured work, principally rosettes and borders, with rows of small pilasters; having three square recesses.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 169-73, with view of eastern front of wing, and of north front of the whole structure. 'Over the doorway (eastern front) are twenty small cartouches of hieroglyphics in four rows, five in a row.'Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 293, with plates of eastern front, northern front, and the Iglesia.
[V-75]Akab-Tziband notAkatzeeb, as Stephens spells it.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 12;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 291-2, with plate of front and of the sculptured lintel. 'Those (rooms) fronting the south are the most remarkable, the inner doorways having each a stone lintel of an unusually large size, measuring thirty-two inches wide, forty-eight long, and twelve deep; having on its inner side a sculptured figure of an Indian in full dress, with cap and feathers, sitting upon a cushioned seat, finely worked; having before him a vase containing flowers, with his right hand extended over it, his left resting upon the side of the cushion—the whole bordered with hieroglyphics. The front part of this lintel contains two rows of hieroglyphics. 43×150×20 feet, walls 3 feet thick.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 123-4. 'Un énorme bâtiment près des Nonnes, mais totalemente dénué de sculptures.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 344.
[V-76]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 311-17, with plates of north front of the castle and its pyramid, and the interior of the room, besides the cut of the monsters' heads given in my text. Bishop Landa gives a description probably intended for this edifice and even gives a plan of it. His account, except in mentioning four stairways, agrees very well with that of later visitors, and is as follows: 'This edifice has four stairways facing the four parts of the world; they are 33 feet wide, each having 91 steps, very difficult of ascent. The steps have the same height and width as ours. Each stairway has two low balustrades, two feet wide, of good stonework like all the building. The edifice is not sharp-cornered, because from the ground upward between the balustrades the cubic blocks are rounded, ascending by degrees and elegantly narrowing the building. There was, when I saw it, at the foot of each balustrade a fierce serpent's mouth very strangely worked. Above the stairways there is on the summit a small level platform in which is an edifice of four rooms. Three of them extend round without interruption, each having a door in the middle and being covered with an arch. The northern room is of peculiar form, and has a corridor of great pillars. The middle one, which must have been a kind of little court between the rooms, has a door which leads to the northern corridor and is closed with wood at the top, and served for burning perfumes. In the entrance of this door or corridor is a kind of coat of arms sculptured in stone, which I could not well understand.'Landa,Relacion, pp. 342-4. 550 feet in circumference at the base, its sides facing the cardinal points. 'The angles and sides were beautifully laid with stones of an immense size, gradually lessening, as the work approached the summit.' Stairways on north and east 30 feet wide and narrowing toward the top. The south and west slopes also mount in steps, each four feet high. Monsters' heads at foot of eastern stairway. Slope 100 feet; building 42 feet square; stone door-jambs have holes drilled through their inner angles; interior walls are plastered and painted with figures now very dim; roof perfectly flat and covered with soil. This author in his whole description evidently confounds the north with the east front.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 115-17, with view of pyramid. Charnay's phot. 32 gives a view of the Chateau. 120 feet high, 159 feet square at base; platform 60 feet square; 80 steps in the stairway.Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.
[V-77]'Tenia delante la escalera del corte(of the castle)algo aparte dos teatros de canteria pequeños de a quatro escaleras, y enlosados por arriba en que dizen representavan las farsas y comedias para solaz del pueblo.'Landa,Relacion, p. 344.
[V-78]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 303-11. Plates giving a general view of the Gymnasium, the front of the building on the eastern wall, and the painted and sculptured figures. 'Le monument se composait autrefois de deux pyramides perpendiculaires et parallèles, d'un développement de cent dix mètres environ, avec plate-forme disposée pour les spectateurs. Aux extrémités deux petits édifices semblables, sur une esplanade de six mêtres de hauteur, devaient servir aux juges, ou d'habitation aux guardiens du gymnase.' Of the two chambers on the eastern wall, 'la seconde, entière aujourd'hui, est couverte de peintures. Ce sont des guerriers et des prêtres, quelques-uns avec barbe noire et drapés dans de vastes tuniques, la tête ornée de coiffures diverses. Les couleurs employées sont le noir, le jaune, le rouge, et le blanc.... Dans le bas et en dehors du monument se trouve la salle dont nous donnons les bas-reliefs, qui sont certainement ce qu'il y a de plus curieux à Chichen-Itza. Toutes les figures en bas-relief, sculptées sur les murailles de cette salle, ont conservé le type de la race indienne existante.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 140-1. Phot. 33 and 34 show the sculptured procession of tigers and that of human figures, of which I have given a portion in my text. 'On observera que les joints des pierres ne sont pascoupésconformément à l'habitude des constructeurs d'appareils, mais que les pierres, ne formant pasliaison, présentent plusieurs joints les uns au-dessus des autres, et ne tiennent que par l'adhérence des mortiers, qui les réunit au blocage intérieur. Par le fait, ces parements ne sont autre chose qu'une décoration, un revêtement collé devant un massif.'Viollet-le-Duc, inId., pp. 48-9. Walls stand on foundations about 16 feet high; columns two feet in diameter; walls 250×16×26 feet and 130 feet apart; building of southern wall (eastern, Norman having completely lost his reckoning at Chichen in the points of the compass) 24 feet high; rings two feet thick; line of rubbish in form of a curve connecting main and end walls (candd). General view of the Temple and cut of the ring.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 111-15. Walls 262×18×27 feet.Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.
[V-79]Cuts fromStephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 300-1. Terrace 55 by 62 feet; stairway 20 feet wide; building 23 by 43.Ib.'Foundations of about twenty feet in height, which were surrounded and sustained by well-cemented walls of hewn stone with curved angles' 240 feet in circumference. Building 21 by 40 feet. 'Across these halls were beams of wood, creased as if they had been worn by hammock-ropes.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 124-5. Foundation only two mètres high, but photograph 31 shows this to be an error.Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 344. 'Deux petits temples (E and D), ayant leur façade au sud et à l'est; le vestibule du premier est orné d'hiéroglyphes.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.
[V-80]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 298-300, with view of the building. This author is at fault so far as dimensions are concerned, since 4 and 5 feet, the width of the corridors, and 3¾ feet, half the diameter of the solid central mass, exceed 11 feet, half the diameter of the whole building, to say nothing of the two walls. 'Bâti en manière de mur à limaçon.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 344. Top of first terrace, 30 feet high, 125 feet square; second terrace 50 feet square and 12 feet high; on this terrace is a pyramidical square 50 feet high, divided into rooms; on the centre of this square is the Dome—'three conic structures, one within the other, a space of six feet intervening; each cone communicating with the others by doorways, the inner one forming the shaft. At the height of about ten feet, the cones are united by means of transoms of zuporte. Around these cones are evidences of spiral stairs, leading to the summit.' It is clear that either Stephens' description or that of Norman is very incorrect. Norman compares this Dome to a 'Greenan Temple' in Donegal, Ireland.Rambles in Yuc., pp. 118-19, with a cut which agrees with Stephens' cut and text. Tower 50 feet high, 36 feet in diameter; surrounding wall 756 feet in circumference and twenty-five feet high.Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.
[V-81]Four hundred and eighty bases of overthrown columns. 'Des colonnades qui, bien que d'une construction lourde, surprennent par leur étendue.'Friederichsthal, loc. cit., pp. 302, 300;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 317-18, and view.
[V-82]'Had the Spaniards selected this for the site of their city of Valladolid, a few leagues distant, it is highly probable that not a vestige of the ancient edifices would now be seen.'Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. 'Lieu qui offre beaucoup l'apparence d'une ville sainte.'Friederichsthal, loc. cit., p. 300. Dr Arthur Schott discourses, in theSmithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-5, on a face, or mask, of 'semiagatized xyolite, still bearing the marks of silicified coniferous wood, a fossil probably foreign to the soil of the peninsula.' It was found at Chichen, and the Doctor thinks it may have some deep mythologic meaning, which he generously leaves to some other ethnologist to decipher. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., p. 127, states that the hewn blocks of stone at Chichen are uniformly 12 by 6 inches. M. Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 47, speaks of a reported silver collar bearing an inscription in Greek, Hebrew, and Phœnician letters, found in the 'grottes cristallines de Chixhen.' But even this enthusiastic antiquarian looks at this report with much distrust.
[V-83]Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144;Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 87;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 340-4.
[V-84]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 272-85;Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 146-7;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 22, 70, 73, 102-3, 111;Bradford's Amer. Antiq., p. 103;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.
[V-85]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 130-9, with cuts;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 127-9, with cuts. Near the village of Telchaquillo.Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. Surrounded by a ditch that can be traced for three miles.Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., pp. 194-5. 'Se dice que Mayapan ... estaba murada, pero fué demolida hasta sus cimientos, y únicamente los grandes montones de piedras indican que fué una gran poblacion.'Un Curioso, inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 206.
[V-86]'Los españoles poblaron aqui una ciudad, y llamaronla Mérida, por la estrañeza y grandeza de los edificios.' As to the size of the pyramid mentioned it is 'mas de dos carreras de caballo'—that is twice as far as a horse can run without taking breath—in extent. The cement is made with the juice of the bark of a certain tree, 'El primero edificio de los quatro quartos nos dio el adelantado Montejo a nosotros hecho un monte aspero, limpiamosle y emos hecho en el con su propria piedra un razonable monesterio todo de piedra y una buena yglesia que llamamos la Madre de Dios.'Landa,Relacion, pp. 330-8, with cut. 'Entre aquel cerro, y otro como èl hecho à mano, que està à la parte Oriental de la Ciudad; se determinò fuesse fundada, y eran tan grandes, que con la piedra que auia en el que estaban, se obraron quantos edificios ay en la Ciudad, con que quedò todo el sitio llano, que es la Plaça mayor oy, y sus quadras en contorno, y con la del de la parte Oriental, se edifico nuestro Conuento por caerle cercano, despues se han hecho muchas casas, y todo el Conuento, y Iglesia de la Mejorada, que tambien es nuestro, y tiene material para otros muy muchos.'Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 138. 'Auia junto adonde està aora la Plaça entre otros cerros, vno que llamaban el grande de los Kues, adoratorio que era de Idolos lleno de arboleda.'Id., p. 149. Tihoo was built by the Tutul-Xius, and had a celebrated temple to Baklum-Chaam, the Maya Priapus.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 8-9. 'En el pátio del convento de S. Francisco está una cruz.... En la huerta del mismo convento se ven aun algunas piedras curiosamente labradas con cotas y morreones á la antigua romana, y púnica.'Alegre,Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 112. The buildings were 'construits en pierres de taille fort grandes. On ignore qui les a bâtis; il paraît que ce fut avant la naissance de Jésus-Christ, car il y avait au-dessus des arbres aussi gros que ceux qui croissaient au pied. Ces bâtiments ont cinq toises de hauteur, et sont construits en pierres sèches; au sommet de ces édifices sont quatre appartements divisés en cellules comme celles des moines; ils ont vingt pieds de long et dix de large; les jambages des portes sont d'un seul morceau, et le haut est voûté.'Bienvenida,Lettre, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 310-11. 'In different parts of the city are the remains of Indian buildings.'Stephens' Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 398. Montanus,Nieuwe Weereld, p. 259, says that Mérida is built on the ruins of Mayapan. Malte-Brun,Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 465, confounds Mérida with the ruins farther south, mentioned by Padre Soza. See mention inNorman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 45-8;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 23, 55-6;Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 37;Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174;Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 243-4;Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., p. 269;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 94-8.
[V-87]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 440-4, vol. i., p. 127, with plate;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'Les monuments les plus anciens, dont les restes sont composés d'énormes blocs de pierres brutes, posés quelquefois les uns sur les autres, sans aucun ciment qui les unisse. Tels sont les édifices d'un lieu voisin de l'hacienda d'Aké, située à 27 milles à l'est-sud-est de Mérida.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 300.
[V-88]Stephens speaks of the 'sternness and harshness of expression' of the cara gigantesca. 'A stone one foot six inches long protrudes from the chin, intended, perhaps, for burning copal on, as a sort of altar.'Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 434-6, with plate. 'Les alentours sont parsemés de pyramides artificielles, et deux, entre autres, sont les plus considérables de la péninsule.' M. Charnay finds fault with Catherwood for representing the colossal head as in a desert with a raging tiger and savages armed with bows and arrows in the foreground. 'A force de vouloir faire de la couleur locale, on fausse l'histoire, et on déroute la science.' He pronounces the face 'd'un genre cyclopéen. Ce sont de vastes entailles, espèces de modelages en ciment.'Ruines Amér., pp. 319-22, phot. 23-5. 'C'est une sorte de gros blocage dont les moellons, posés avec art par le sculpteur au milieu d'un mortier très-dur, ont formé les joues, la bouche, le nez, les yeux. Cette tête colossale est réellement une bâtisse enduite.' 'Les traits sont beaux, la bouche est bien faite, les yeux grands sans être saillants, le front, couvert d'un ornement, ne semble point fuyant. Cette tête était peinte comme toute l'architecture mexicaine.'Viollet-le-Duc, inId., pp. 46-7. Dr Schott pronounces Mr Stephens' description unsatisfactory, especially his calling the face harsh and stern in expression. The features are feminine in their cast, and of the narrow rather than of the broad type. 'The whole face exhibits a very remarkable regularity and conforms strictly to the universally accepted principles of beauty.' 'The head-dress in the shape of a mitre is encircled just above the forehead by a band, which is fastened in front by a triple locket or tassel.' This author identities the face as that of Itzamatul, the semi-divine founder of Izamal, and explains the signification of each particular feature. His treatise is perhaps as intelligible and rational as most speculation on such topics, but it is to be noted that the Dr founds his conclusions on Clavigero's description of the Toltecs! It would be hard to prove that the cara gigantesca does not represent this particular hero, and that the large ears are not emblems of wisdom. Dr Schott pronounces it 'hazardous' to attempt to connect this face with any other than Itzamatul, and I prefer to run no risks.Smithsonian Rept., 1869, pp. 389-93. Norman,Rambles in Yuc., p. 79, speaks of a well on the platform of one of the pyramids. 'Dans ses flancs, la colline sacrée recélait de vastes appartements, des galeries et un temple souterrain, destinés, dit-on, aux mystères de la religion et à servir de nécropole aux cadavres des prêtres et des princes.' The grave of Zamná was here, and his followers erected the pyramid.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 79. History of the pyramids, seeId., tom. ii., pp. 47-8. 'On trouva dans un édifice en démolition une grande urne à trois anses, recouverte d'ornements argentés extérieurement, au fond duquel il y avait des cendres provenant d'un corps brûlé, parmi lesquelles nous trouvâmes des objets d'art en pierre.' 'Statues en demi-bosse, modelées en ciment que je dis se trouver dans les contreforts, et qui sont d'hommes de haute taille.'Landa,Relacion, pp. 326-30, with plan. 'Ay en este pueblo de Ytzamal cinco cuyos ó cerros muy altos, todos levantados de piedra seca, con sus fuerças y reparos, que ayudan á levantar la piedra en alto, y no se ven edificios enteros oy, mas los señales y vestigios están patentes en uno dellos de la parte de mediodia.' One altar was in honor of their king or false god Ytzmat-ul, and had on it the figure of a hand, being calledKab-ul, or 'working hand.' Another mound and temple in the northern part of the city, the highest now standing, was calledKinich-Kakmó, or 'sun with fiery rayed face.' Another, on which the convent is founded, isPpapp-Hol-Chac, 'house of heads and lightnings.' Another in the south calledHunpictok, 'captain with an army of 8000 flints.'Lizana,Devocionario, 1663, inLanda,Relacion, pp. 348-64.
[V-89]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 137-232, with plates and cuts;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144;Baldwin's Anc. Amer., pp. 101, 146-7;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-3.
[V-90]On these east coast buildings seen by Córdova, Grijalva, and Cortés, seeDiaz,Itinéraire, inTernaux-Compans,Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 5-9; and inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 282-6;Cortés,Vida, inId., p. 339;Oviedo,Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 497, 505-7;Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 352;Herrera,Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i.;Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 22-4;Id.,Hist. Ind., fol. 60;Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii.;Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 4;Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 41;Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., p. 181;Sivers,Mittelamerika, pp. 241-4;Folsom, inCortés,Despatches, p. 20.
[V-91]Voy. Pitt., p. 102.
[V-92]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 387-409, with plates and cuts.
[V-93]'They founde auncient towers there, and the ruines of such as hadde beene broken downe and destroyed, seeming very auncient: but one aboue the rest, whereto they ascended by 18 steppes or staires, as they ascende to famous, and renowned temples.'Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii. Grijalva found a tower 'xviii gradi de altura et tutta massiza al pede et tenia a torno clxxx piedi, et incima de essa era una torre piccola la quale era de statura de homini doi uno sopra laltro.'Diaz,Itinerario, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 284, 287. See also the authorities referred to innote 89.Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 362-80, with cut;Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 321;Gondra, inAlbum Mex., tom. i., p. 239;Mayer's Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 169;Baril,Mexique, p. 129;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 145.
[V-94]Córdova found here in 1517 'torres de piedra con grados y capillas cubiertas de madera y paja en que por gentil orden estauan puestos muchos idolos, que parecian mugeres.'Gomara,Hist. Ind., fol. 60;Cortés,Vida, inIcazbalceta,Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 339;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 415-17, with plate.
[V-95]Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 102. 'Une ville entière offre ses ruines aux investigations des archéologues.'Baril,Mexique, p. 129;Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 321.
[V-96]Dampier's Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 10-11;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 418.
[V-97]'Tout près du rio Lagarto se voient deux pyramides, au sommet desquelles croissent maintenant des arbres élevés et touffus.'Baril,Mexique, p. 129;Waldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 102.
[V-98]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 427-30, with plate.
[V-99]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 189, 199-220;Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.
[V-100]'The whole of Campeachy rests upon a subterraneous cavern of the ancient Mayas. It is now difficult to ascertain whether these quarries or galleries, which, according to the traditions of the country, are understood to be immense, served for the abode of the people who executed the work. Nothing reveals the marks of man's sojournings here; not even the traces of smoke upon the vaults were visible. It is more probable that the greater part of this excavation was used as a depository for their dead. This supposition has been strengthened by the discovery of many openings of seven feet deep by twenty inches in breadth, dug horizontally in the walls of the caverns. These excavations, however, are few; and the galleries have been but little investigated and less understood.' Mr Norman sent some of the skeletons discovered here to Dr Morton, who pronounced them to present many of the characteristics of the natives at the present time.Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 211-18, with plates. Sr Gondra, inPrescott,Hist. Conq. Mex.(Mex. 1846) tom. iii., pp. 95-8, pl. xviii., gives engravings of four of these idols in Norman's collection, erroneously stating that they are from Stephens' work. 'I have seen some of his (Norman's) remarkable antiquities, as Penates, hieroglyphics,' etc.Davis' Antiq. Amer., p. 12. The above notice, given by Mr Norman is an almost literal translation ofWaldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 10; as is also the account byI. R. Gondra, inAlbum Mex., tom. i., p. 162. Mention of the Champoton ruins inWaldeck,Voy. Pitt., p. 102;Larenaudière,Mex. et Guat., p. 321;Baril,Mexique, p. 128. Córdova in 1517 saw at Campeche 'vn torrejoncillo de piedra quadrado y gradado, en lo alto del qual estaua vn ydolo con dos fieros animales alas hijadas, como que lo comian. Y vna sierpe de quarenta y siete pies larga, y gorda quanto vn buey, hecha de piedra como el ydolo.'Gomara,Hist. Ind., fol. 61. 'On ne rencontre ni dans l'île de Carmen ni sur les bords de la Lagune aucun tumulus, aucune ruine, aucun vestige enfin de l'industrie des temps passés.' Description of the Camacho collection in Campeche, consisting of 'figurines et des vases d'argile portant encore des traces de peinture et de vernis, des instruments de musique, de menus objets de parure, des haches, des fers de lance en silex ou en obsidienne.'Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., pp. 226, 167-8. The Camacho Museum contains 'Una numerosa colleccion de ídolos de barro y piedra.... Una urna cineraria que contiene los restos de un hombre.... Una coleccion de vasos, jarros, cántaros y fuentes de piedra y barro, adornados, muchos de ellos, con geroglíficos y con pinturas vivas, frescas y bien conservadas. Una colleccion de lanzas, flechas, dardos y demas instrumentos de guerra.... Casi todos estos instrumentos son de pedernal. Otra coleccion de flautas y otros instrumentos músicos, de barro. Otra id. de zarcillos, cuentas y adornos de piedra.... Otra id. de lozas sepulcrales.... Una multitud de fragmentos arquitectónicos.'Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 373-4. 'Le canton qui s'étend de la côte de la lagune de Jerm, vers le nord-est, offre sur-tout une suite presque continue de monticules et de villes, jusqu'au point où il atteint le sanctuaire de l'île de Cozumel.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 299-300. 'Une foule de ruines d'une grande importance.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 67.
[V-101]Cogolludo,Hist. Yuc., p. 193;Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 341, 122, vol. i., p. 415;Landa,Relacion, pp. 344, 330;Lizana, inId., p. 358;Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 321-2;Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 366.
[V-102]'La piedramargosade que están formados tales edificios, es ademas generalmente considerada como un material muy inferior para la construccion.'Friederichsthal, inDicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 292. The blocks 'ont une transparence troublée comme celle du gypse. Il est probable ... que c'est du véritable carbonate calcaire.'Zavala, inAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. 'A soft coralline limestone of a comparatively recent geological formation, probably of the Tertiary period.'Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.
[V-103]'La poca mezcla que se advierte en ellos, es fina, tersa y tan compacta por su particular beneficio, que tomada entre los dedos una pastilla, cuyo grueso es poco mayor que el de un peso fuerte, da sumo trabajo quebrantarla.'L. G., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'Ces mortiers sont faits avec une chaux hydraulique presque pure, et ont une si complète adhérence, soit dans les massifs, soit même lorsqu'ils sont appliqués comme enduits, comme à Palenqué, qu'à peine si le marteau peut les entamer.'Viollet-le-Duc, inCharnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 59-60.
[V-104]Jones says 'The term "triangularArch" cannot be admitted by the language of Architecture; he (Mr Stephens) might as well have writtentriangular semicircle, terms distinctly opposed to each other.'Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 100. 'Los techos, sin variacion alguna entre sí, representan una figura ojiva, muy conocida de los árabes, y repetidamente citada por el recomendable Victor Hugo en su obra de Nuestra Sra. de Paris.'L. G., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'On dit en espagnol deboveda, qui n'exprime aucunement cette architecture toute particulière;bovedaveut dire voûte, et ces intérieurs n'y ressemblent nullement; ce sont deux murs parallèles jusqu'à une hauteur de trois mètres, obliquant alors l'un vers l'autre, et terminés par une dalle de trente centimètres.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3.
[V-105]Friederichsthal erroneously says the wooden lintels are always sculptured, and that each room has air-holes above the cornice, both square and round, from 3 to 5 inches in diameter.Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 311.
[V-106]Mr Jones believes that the ornaments on the Maya façades must have been sculptured after the stones in a rough state had been put in place, and not before, as Mr Stephens thinks.Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 92. The following is Mr Waldeck's not very clear explanation of the mode of decorating these façades. 'Voulaient-ils couvrir une façade d'ornements ou de figures symboliques, ils commençaient par peindre la muraille toute entière de la couleur qu'ils avaient choisie; presque toujours c'était le rouge qui formait le fond.... Cette première opération terminée, on posait sur le mur peint la marqueterie en pierre qui devait servir d'ornement et on la badigeonnait avec plus de soin que le fond. Le bleu était employé dans ce travail.'Voy. Pitt., pp. 72-3. 'In the Mayan delineations of the human countenance the contracted facial angle is as remarkable as in the paintings of the Aztecs.'Prichard's Researches, vol. v., p. 346. SeeFoster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 302. 'On retrouve chez quelques-uns de ces Indiens les traits bien accentués de la race au front fuyant et au nez busqué, qui construisit les palais d'Uxmal, de Palenque, et de Chichen-Itza. Je fus frappé de cette analogie, quoique la similitude soit loin d'être parfaite, les artistes nationaux ayant exagéré vraisemblablement certains caractères qui constituaient alors l'idéal de la beauté.'Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., p. 147.
[V-107]Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 212-13.
[V-108]'Depuis le cap Catoche jusqu'au pied de la Cordillère centrale, analogie frappante dans le caractère, l'ensemble et les proportions des diverses parties des ouvrages.' 'Quant à l'impression que fait éprouver l'examen de l'architecture de tous ces édifices, je dois ajouter que les idées fines de l'artiste ont évidemment été exécutées d'une manière qui ne les rend nullement.' 'Toutefois on rencontre, notamment à Uxmal, des preuves suffisantes qu'ils étaient parvenus à plus de dextérité dans quelques-unes de leurs sculptures. On reconnaît leur addresse à représenter les formes humaines, dans les idoles et les figures en argile.... Ces ouvrages sont supérieurs, sous tous les rapports de l'art, à tout ce que cette nation a produit.'Friederichsthal, inNouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 303, 312. 'Esa bella y elegante arquitectura, esos soberbios é imponentes adornos, superiores á todo lo que hasta hoy ha podido verse y concebirse.' 'Ruinas soberbias, que agobian la imaginacion y oprimen el entendimiento.'Id., inDicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 291. 'The splendid temples and palaces still standing attest the power of the priests and of the nobles; no trace remains of the huts in which dwelt the mass of the nation.'Gallatin, inAmer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. Uxmal 'the American Palmyra.'Wappäus,Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 'El primer golpe de vista de su conjunto, es grandioso, es imponente. Examinandolos luego en detall, causa admiracion el distinto órden de arquitectura que se nota en cada edificio, la elegancia caprichosa de sus formas, la abundancia y riqueza del material que interior y exteriormente es todo de piedra de sillería, el lujo prodigioso de los adornos variados hasta lo infinito de un modo raro, original y nunca visto, y la perfeccion y maestría con que todo ha sido ejecutado.' 'Nótase en Uxmal ... la infancia del arte en punto á estatuaria.'M. F. P., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 363, 365. 'En somme, les ruines d'Uxmal nous paraissent être la dernière expression de la civilisation américaine; nulle part un tel assemblage de ruines, maisons particulières, temples et palais.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 374. 'La arquitectura de Uxmal brillante en su perspectiva, es complicada y simétrica en sus dibujos, robusta en sus cimientos y terraplenes, simbólica en sus geroglíficos y figuras humanas ... y bastante delicada en sus cornizas y molduras.'L. G., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. 'The sculpture at Uxmal is not only as fine, but distinctly of a Grecian character.'Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 107. 'Plusieurs de ces constructions ne laissent rien à désirer au point de vue du bon goût et des règles de l'art.'Morelet,Voyage, tom. i., p. 193. M. Viollet-le-Duc's conclusions and speculations are mostly directed to prove that the builders were of mixed race, white and yellow, Aryan and Turanian. He supports his theory by a study of the faces among the sculptured decorations, and by pointing out in the buildings traditions of structures in wood, and also the use of mortar, the use of wood and mortar being peculiar, as he claims, to different races.Charnay,Ruines Amér., introd. 'These antiquities show that this section of the continent was anciently occupied by a people admirably skilled in the arts of masonry, building, and architectural decoration.'Baldwin's Anc. Amer., p. 101. 'The builders of the ruins of the city of Chi-Chen and Uxmal excelled in the mechanic and fine arts. It is obvious that they were a cultivated, and doubtless a very numerous people.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., p. 175. 'Ohne Zweifel zu den herrlichsten Amerikas gehören.—Welch riesenhafte Bauten für eine Nation, die alles mit steinernen Instrumenten arbeitete!'Heller,Reisen, p. 260.
[V-109]Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 93-9, 140, 274, 322-5, 413, vol. ii., pp. 264-73, 306, 343, 406.
[V-110]'Dilato la fundacion de Uxmal á 150 ó 200 años ántes del de 1535, en que tuvo efecto la conquista del pais por los españoles.'L. G., inRegistro Yuc., tom. i., p. 276. 'Aunque el mar de conjeturas que las cubre sea muy ancho, y de libre navegacion para todo el mundo, creo, sin embargo, que lo ménos ridículo y mas acertado es no engolfarse en él.'M. F. P., inId., p. 363. Cogolludo found in the Casa del Adivino at Uxmal traces of recent sacrificial offerings.Hist. Yuc., p. 193. 'Fassen wir nun diess alles zusammmen, so haben wir in den Ruinen Uxmals echte Denkmäler tultekischer Kunst von einem Alter von ungefähr 800 Jahren.'Heller,Reisen, p. 264. 'Elles paraissent, en majeure partie, appartenir à l'architecture toltèque et dater d'au moins mille ans.'Baril,Mexique, p. 128,. Friederichsthal, inRegistro Yuc., tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and many others regard the Yucatan and other Central American ruins as the work of the Toltecs. See vol. ii., cap. ii., and vol. v. of this work on this point. Uxmal generally regarded as having been founded by Ahcuitok Tutul-Xiu between 870 and 894 A. D.Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 22. Chichen seems older than the other ruins. The Maya MS. places its discovery between 360 and 432 A. D.Stephens' Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 323. 'Uxmal is placed by us as the last built of all the Ancient Cities as yet discovered on the Western Continent.'Jones' Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 104, 101. 'Evidently the city of Chi-Chen was an antiquity when the foundations of the Parthenon at Athens, and the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, were being laid.' The ruins of Yucatan 'belong to the remotest antiquity. Their age is not to be measured by hundreds, but by thousands of years.'Norman's Rambles in Yuc., pp. 177-8. SeeWaldeck,Voy. Pitt., pp. 71, 97-8;Prescott's Mex., vol. iii., pp. 412-13;Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.
[VI-1]The physical features and natural beauties of this region are perhaps more vividly and eloquently described by the French traveler Morelet than by any other visitor.Voyage, tom. i., pp. 245-85;Travels, pp. 65-111. M. Morelet visited Palenque from the Laguna de Terminos, passing up the Usumacinta and its branches, while other visitors approached for the most part from the opposite direction. He gives, moreover, much closer attention to nature in its varied aspects than to artificial monuments of the past. 'L'esprit est frappé par le rêve biblique de l'Éden, et l'œil cherche vainement l'Ève et l'Adam de ce jardin des merveilles: nul être humain n'y planta sa tente; sept lieues durant ces perspectives délicieuses se succèdent, sept lieues de ces magnifiques solitudes que bornent de trois côtés les horizons bleus de la Cordillère.'Charnay,Ruines Amér., p. 412. 'La nature toujours prodigue de ses dons, dans ce climat enchanteur, lui assurait en profusion, avec une éternelle fertilité, et une salubrité éprouvée durant une longue suite de siècles, tout ce qu'un sol fécond, sous un ciel admirable, peut fournir spontanément de productions nécessaires à l'entretien et au repos de la vie.'Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 82.
[VI-2]In 1746, while Padre Antonio de Solis was temporarily residing at Santo Domingo, a part of his curacy, the ruins were accidentally found by his nephews; although Stephens,Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 294, gives a report without naming his authority—probablyAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. v., orJuarros,Hist. Guat., p. 18., where the date is given as the middle of the century—which he does not credit, that they were found by a party of Spaniards in 1750. From one of the nephews, Ramon Ordoñez, then a schoolboy at San Cristóval, first heard of the ruins in which he took so deep an interest in later years. In 1773 Ordoñez sent his brother with one Gutierrez de la Torre and others to make explorations, and from their report wrote an account—probably theMemoria relativa à las ruinas de la Ciudad descubierta en las inmediaciones del pueblo de Palenque, a MS. in Brasseur's collection, (Bib. Mex. Guat., p. 113,) from which these facts were gathered—which was forwarded in 1784 to Estacheria, President of the Guatemalan Audiencia Real. President Estacheria, by an order dated Nov. 28, 1784,—Expediente sobre el descubrimiento de una gran ciudad, etc., MS., in the Archives of the Royal Hist. Acad. of Madrid,—instructed José Antonio Calderon, Lieut. Alcalde Mayor of Santo Domingo, to make further explorations. Calderon's report,—Informe de D. J. A. Calderon, etc., translated in substance inBrasseur,Palenqué, Introd., pp. 5-7,—is dated Dec. 15, 1764, so that the survey must have been very actively pushed, to bring to light as was claimed, over 200 ruined edifices in so short a time. Some drawings accompanied this report, but they have never been published. In Jan. 1785 Antonio Bernasconi, royal architect in Guatemala, was ordered to continue the survey, which he did between Feb. 25 and June 13, when he handed in his report, accompanied by drawings never published so far as I know. Bernasconi's report with all those preceding it was sent to Spain, and from the information thus given, J. B. Muñoz, Royal Historiographer, made a report on American antiquities by order of the king.
In accordance with a royal cedula of March 15, 1786, Antonio del Rio was ordered by Estacheria to complete the investigations. With the aid of seventy-nine natives Del Rio proceeded to fall the trees and to clear the site of the ancient city by a general conflagration. His examination lasted from May 18 to June 2, and his report with many drawings was sent to Spain. Copies were, however, retained in Guatemala and Mexico, and one of these copies was in Brasseur's collection under the title ofDescripcion del terreno y poblacion antigua, etc.Another copy was found, part in Guatemala and the rest in Mexico, by a Dr M'Quy. It was taken to England, translated, and published by Henry Berthoud, together with a commentary by Paul Felix Cabrera, entitledTeatro Crítico Americano, all under the general title ofDescription of an Ancient City, etc., London, 1822. The work was illustrated with eighteen lithographic plates, by M. Fréd. Waldeck, ostensibly from Del Rio's drawings; but it is elsewhere stated,Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. vi., that Del Rio's drawings did not accompany the work at all. If this be true, the published plates must probably have been taken from the Latour-Allard copies of Castañeda's drawings, of which I shall speak presently, and indeed a comparison with Kingsborough's plates shows almost conclusively that such was in some cases at least their origin. Humboldt speaks of the Latour-Allard plate of the cross as differing entirely from that of Del Rio. This difference does not appear in my copies. It is possible that the plates in my copy of Del Rio's work, the only one I have ever seen, are not the ones which originally appeared with the book. A French translation by M. Warden was published by the Société de Géographie, with a part of the plates; and a German translation by J. H. von Minutoli, with an additional commentary by the translator, appeared in Berlin, 1832, asBeschreibung einer alten Stadt, etc. This contained the plates, together with many additional ones illustrating Mexican antiquities from various sources. The German editor says that the whole English edition, except two copies of proof-sheets, was destroyed; but this would seem an error, since the work is often referred to by different writers, and the price paid for the copy consulted by me does not indicate great rarity. Stephens,Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 296, speaks of this as 'the first notice in Europe of the discovery of these ruins,'—incorrectly, unless we understandprintednotice, and even then it must be noticed that Juarros,Hist. Guat., 1808-18, pp. 18-19, gave a brief account of Palenque. Del Rio, in Brasseur's opinion, was neither artist nor architect, and his exploration was less complete than those of Calderon and Bernasconi, whose reports he probably saw, notwithstanding the greater force at his disposal. 'Sin embargo de sus distinguidas circunstancias, carecia de noticias historiales para lo que pedia la materia, y de actividad para lograr un perfecto descubrimiento.'Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 320. The original Spanish of Del Rio's report, dated June 24, 1787 (?),—Informe dado par D. Antonio del Rio al brigadier D. José Estacheria, etc.—was published in 1855, in theDiccionario Univ. de Geog. etc., tom. viii., pp. 528-33. See also an extract from the same inMosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 330-4. InAntiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76, it is stated that Julio Garrido wrote a work on Palenque about 1805, which was not published. That is all I know of it.